Archive of Our Own ^beta

Nico’s eyes cracked open. The only light in the room came from the glow of the alarm clock on his nightstand thanks to the blackout curtains that covered the windows - the first thing that Nico insisted on buying when they finally got a place for themselves. 

Still, the alarm clock gave enough of a glow that Nico could see the contrast of one brown arm thrown over his pale torso, and he tipped his head to the side to see Leo’s sleeping face half-buried in his pillow. Nico felt himself warm at the sight, and he knew it wasn’t just because Leo tended to run hot.

The alarm blared next to Nico’s head, and he felt Leo’s fingers twitch against his skin. Sluggishly, Nico reached back to snooze the alarm, barely glancing at the time as he did so. It was just past ten, which meant they both needed to get up for work - summer hours were going to be the death of them. 

Nico rolled onto his side, facing his boyfriend and reaching out to brush his fingers against Leo’s cheek. There were some good things about summer, he supposed, one of which being how his skin tended to darken considerably in the sun, meaning that Leo might lighten up on calling him “pasty” quite so often. Another plus was the fact that Hazel would have a break from school, and was already planning to visit sometime in the next few months. 

The long hours and the Texas heat definitely weren’t something to look forward to, but Nico had somehow managed to survive it for the last few years, so what was one more? Besides, he was pretty sure there was an ice cream shop opening next to Sally’s general store, so even if the heat started to get to him, he’d have a great new way to cool off.

Nico tapped his fingers against Leo’s cheek, though he still didn’t budge, which forced Nico to rely on drastic measures. He pressed the backs of his cold fingers to the side of Leo’s neck, causing the other man to flinch and finally open his eyes. He glared at Nico at first, until Nico grinned and said, “Morning, my little arsonist.” Then, Leo was full-on pouting.

“Who’re you callin’ little?” Leo grumbled, his voice rough from too-little sleep. He heaved himself up, knocking Nico onto his back so that he could lay halfway on top of the other man as he continued, “That’s not what you were saying last night when we--”

“We didn’t do anything,” Nico cut in quickly, futilely trying to stretch and shift under the weight of his boyfriend just to keep Leo’s curls from getting into his mouth as he spoke. “You and your robots, on the other hand--” 

Leo gasped. “Baby, you know you’re the only one for me. ‘Sides, I’m probably still a few years away from decent sexbot technology.”

“Thanks for keeping me around until then,” Nico replied, trailing a hand up and down Leo’s back as his boyfriend relaxed further against him. He could tell that Leo was seconds away from falling asleep again, so Nico would need to keep him talking if either of them were going to get out of bed anytime soon. “What time did you come to bed last night?” 

Leo groaned and grumbled a few nonsense words against Nico’s collarbone before finally seeming to decide on, “Like, five.” 

“Did you at least finish what you were working on?” Nico asked, and Leo groaned again, louder. That was all the answer Nico needed. “Sounds like you need coffee, then.” 

“Mm, coffee,” Leo repeated. “But then we’d have to get up, and I like this better.” 

“And I like keeping my job,” Nico said, “and if I’m gonna do that, then you need to let me up.” 

Leo scoffed. “Please, Sally wouldn’t fire you. What’s the point of nepotism, then?” 

“It’s not nepotism,” Nico replied with a roll of his eyes.

“Oh? A mother promoting her son to a management position, giving him a key to the store and everything, instead of promoting one of her other employees? That’s not nepotism?”

“Nope.”

“Why not? What makes you so special?”

Nico grinned. “I’m adopted. If it were Percy, on the other hand, then it would be nepotism. I’m just a good employee.”

“A good employee who’s gonna be late,” Leo muttered into Nico’s chest, forcing Nico to finally shove him away so that he could get up. He picked a few articles of clothing up off the ground on his way out of the room - the skinny jeans he’d been wearing yesterday, which he would continue to wear up until the point that he was risking heat stroke, and some old t-shirt that might’ve actually been Leo’s - and barely paused to put them on before walking out into the hall. 

He started up the coffee pot before heading around the kitchen to pack himself a lunch to take with him to work. He pulled two mugs down from the cabinet once the coffee pot finished brewing, and just as he started to pour, he felt a pair of arms slip around his waist from behind.

Leo dropped his chin onto Nico’s shoulder with a contented hum. “Have I ever told you that you’re, like, the perfect height for this?”

Nico snorted. “Yeah, I seem to recall a time when you said that if I ever reached five-five, you would cry.” 

“I would,” Leo insisted. “It would be a horrible loss - for both of us!” 

Nico set down the coffee pot and spun around in Leo’s arms until he could wrap his own around Leo’s shoulders and pull him in for a quick kiss. “You’re about to horribly lose your ride to work if you don’t get dressed soon.” 

Leo worked as a cook at a restaurant nearby. Technically, it was in the exact opposite direction of Nico’s job at Sally’s Saltwater Taffy, and it was close enough that Leo didn’t have any trouble walking to and from work if he needed to, but Nico liked to give him a ride whenever he could. Leo liked to tease him and call him clingy whenever Nico insisted on driving - even when he was already cutting it close to make it to work on time - but maybe Nico liked having an uninterrupted three minute drive to hold his boyfriend’s hand. So what?

After dropping Leo off with a promise to pick him up again later, Nico was off, another fifteen minutes down back roads until he reached the closest thing their small town had to an oceanfront. Three buildings ran alongside a canal that was just big enough for a regular recreational boat to pass through, and each place had a handful of docks at which boats could park to come ashore. During the colder months - which, since it was Texas, weren’t really all that cold at all - Nico typically only saw a handful of customers who walked up from their homes across the street, looking for cigarettes or cheap snacks. In the summer, though, Sally’s Saltwater Taffy was overrun by locals who were stocking up for a day out on the boat.

As Nico drove up, he noticed that the first building in the row looked more lively than it had since Sally first signed the lease at her store. She was the one who had originally told Nico that an ice cream shop was supposedly moving in next door, though apparently Nico needed to see it to believe it. Considering how many cars were in the lot and how many people were crowded around inside, Nico figured they were either training the new employees, or they’d already reached their soft opening.

He continued a short ways down the road, parking on a narrow strip of pavement between Sally’s and the pizza place on the other side - Riverside, which was both uncreative and a bit inaccurate, considering they weren’t really on a river - and Nico let himself inside the store.

He liked working mornings, even if morning at a store like that technically referred to the period of time between eleven and one in the afternoon. It was always a peaceful time, and he could easily flip on the open sign without worrying about seeing a single customer until he was all settled in. He took his time turning on all of the lights and putting cash in the register, and pulled out a stool from under the counter to sit at the register. Sally would be in at some point later in the day, so he knew he could take it easy until then.

Nico was almost startled when the bell over the door chimed and someone came rushing in. The guy - tall, blond, so many freckles - nearly fell flat on his face when he tripped over the front step, which let Nico know instantly that he’d never been there before. His eyes darted around the place, easily glancing over the tops of shelves until he found the long bartop-like counter that Nico sat behind. He ran over and smiled brightly at Nico, drumming his fingers gently against the countertop. 

“Hey, are you Nico?” he asked, and Nico had to suppress a flinch.

Hesitantly, he replied, “...Yes?” 

The guy threw a thumb over his shoulder as he explained at rapid speed, “I work next door. At the new ice cream place? So, we just blew a fuse, and our backup freezer is out, so Emmie sent me over to ask if we could store some extra ice cream tubs over here until we figure something out. So, um, can we borrow some freezer space somewhere? Because we’re about to have a really melty mess on our hands, otherwise.” 

Nico blinked. He wasn’t even sure what happened, but one second there was an attractive man standing in front of him rambling, and the next, Nico was across the store, restacking boxes inside one of the freezers while the man ran off to collect the tubs of ice cream. Apparently, Nico was not immune to a pretty face.

He had half a second where he realized that he probably should’ve checked with Sally to make sure it was okay before agreeing, but she tended to be okay with most things, and besides, he was pretty sure she was friendly with the two ladies running the place next door. He was pulled out of his thoughts when the door opened again, and this time, his brain actually took the time to process what was happening - and he almost wished it hadn’t. 

Now that Nico was standing on solid ground beside the other man, he could see that he barely reached the blond’s shoulder, and that his eyes were so, so blue as he smiled down at Nico and asked where he could set the ice cream. Oh, and he was carrying four tubs of ice cream, all of which were easily twice the size of Nico’s head, and this guy didn’t even seem to be breaking a sweat! Maybe the tubs weren’t actually all that heavy - and maybe Nico’s heart wasn’t about to pound out of his chest.

“Sorry!” Nico exclaimed when he realized that he hadn’t moved for more than a few seconds. “Uh, right over here.” 

He led the way toward the freezer that he’d started clearing space in, and stood by to watch as the blond carefully lowered each tub into the freezer. If Nico paid extra close attention to the way the muscles in his arms tensed and flexed, well, nobody needed to know. 

“Thanks again for doing this,” the blond was saying when Nico’s brain switched back online. “Seriously, you’re a lifesaver. Like, it’s a brand new business, you know? So if Emmie and Jo were to lose all this ice cream… I mean, that’s a lot of money down the drain. So, really, thanks. From me, and from them.” He closed the freezer and stepped back, meeting Nico’s eyes with another grin. “Alright, well, there’s a few more left, so I’ll be right back!”

The guy turned on his heel and left, leaving Nico to stare after him even after the door had closed behind him. Nico made his way back to his stool behind the counter, figuring he could bang his forehead against the countertop to knock some sense into himself until the blond returned, though he held himself back from doing so. What he could do instead was pull out his phone and send a text to his boyfriend, who he loved, and who he could never imagine cheating on with some random, hot stranger.

But would it be weird if he texted Leo out of the blue? They normally only talked in the middle of the day if something funny had happened at either of their jobs, so would a casual hey be a cause for concern? Or worse, would it make Leo suspicious?

Suspicious of what, Nico mentally scolded himself, and opened up his texts to Sally instead, as a way to help clear his mind. He sent a simple, what time will you be here today? and left it at that. By the time he’d set his phone back under the counter, the door opened again, and the hot blond reappeared. 

He had three tubs of ice cream balanced in his arms this time, and that same bright smile as before as he stepped up to the counter. “Last ones!” he announced cheerily, and then nodded his head toward the freezers. “Mind getting the door for me?” 

Nico jumped up from his seat and hurried around the counter to get the door. He watched again as the blond set the other tubs down, though just before he could drop in the last one, Nico caught himself asking, “How heavy are those?”

“These?” he asked, holding up the last tub with one hand supporting it from underneath. “Not too bad. You wanna see?” He held the tub out toward Nico, who suddenly felt like he had no choice but to reach out and take it. 

It was a good thing he picked it up from the bottom and not the sides, because as soon as the blond took his hand away, Nico felt like the weight of the tub might rip his arms out of their sockets. God, he knew he wasn’t even as strong as Leo, but he didn’t think he was that weak!

“Uh, yeah,” he said, hoping his voice didn’t sound as strained as it felt, “not bad at all.” 

The blond grinned and took the tub back with ease, setting it inside the freezer with the rest of the ice cream as if the tub weighed nothing at all. After closing the door, he stretched his arms up over his head and breathed a sigh of relief. “Well! I’m glad that’s over with. Now I can finally take a second to relax.” 

Nico crossed his arms over his chest - mainly so he wouldn’t have to figure out what to do with his hands - and leaned carefully against the shelf behind him. “Aren’t you supposed to be, like... working?”

The blond shrugged, his smile turning lazy as his head tipped to one side. “Well, sure, but I just did more work in twenty minutes than any of the kids over there have done all day, so. I think I deserve a bit of a break. Besides, it’s always a good idea to get friendly with the neighbors, right?” He startled, straightening up a bit and reaching out with one hand. “Oh! I’m Will, by the way.” 

“Nico,” he replied, taking Will’s hand for barely more than a second, though it was enough to feel a shock pass through his arm at how unexpectedly cold Will’s skin was, even to Nico’s own icicle fingers. Still, he thought he could feel warmth radiating just below the surface. “But, uh, you already knew that.” 

Will’s grin brightened. “I did.”

Nico was historically not great at holding a conversation, but there was something about the way it felt to have Will’s eyes on him that made him not want the moment to end. “So, uh. You mentioned kids. Uh, next door? Are you, like, running a combination ice cream shop-daycare?”

Will rolled his eyes, his smile dimming in a way that made Nico wonder if he was at all capable of frowning. “I might as well be. I think I’m the only person employed that has graduated high school, let alone undergrad. I just needed an easy job so that I could make a little bit of money before I go back to school in the fall, you know? But I wasn’t expecting that I’d have to do customer service and babysit at the same time. I dunno, it’s gonna be interesting.” 

“Sounds like it,” Nico replied. “Uh. Good luck, I guess. Is the store, like, open? Or are you still doing...training...stuff?”

Will’s eyes crinkled in the corners, like Nico had said something amusing, and now the way that Will was looking at him had his fight or flight instincts kicking in. “Training stuff,” Will repeated. “The grand opening is this Friday. You should stop by, if you have time.” 

Nico felt his shoulders tense. Was Will flirting with him? Or was this just his attempt at being a friendly neighbor? Either way, just to be safe, Nico should probably make it known that he’s off the market. Right? A casual mention of a boyfriend would work - he’d never had to let anybody down easy like that before, but he’d seen it in, like, movies. Thanks, I’ll see if my boyfriend is interested. Perfect. Now, he just had to say it.

Nico opened his mouth, and what came out was, “I’ll probably be here. You know, working, but, uh… I’ll try.” 

“Cool,” Will said simply, and no, Nico, that’s not letting him down easy!  

“Cool,” Nico repeated, and suppressed a wince at how awkward he probably sounded. This was exactly why he didn’t like talking to strangers. He was lucky Leo had always been more outgoing than him.

Thankfully, Nico was literally saved by the bell when the front door opened and a customer stepped inside. His eyes darted toward the counter and watched as a greying man in a worker’s jumpsuit stepped toward the register.

Nico glanced back toward Will and tipped his head toward the register as he said, “Uh, I gotta--”

“Yeah, of course,” Will said, straightening up and shifting into Nico’s personal space. “I’ll see you around. Friday, maybe.” 

“Yeah, maybe,” Nico told him, and turned toward the counter. “Hey, Bob,” he greeted the man at the register, “cigarettes?”

Absently, he registered the sound of the door opening and closing while he turned his back to grab a pack of cigarettes, and rang them up before sending Bob on his way. In only a few minutes flat, Nico was on his own again, so he finally let his head hit the countertop.

It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes that he sat there like that, but when he heard the bell over the door chime again, he almost couldn’t make himself look up. When he did manage to drag his head up, his eyes landed on Sally as she marched inside, and he let his head fall again. “Oh, good. Just you,” he mumbled, and then said louder, “Hey, Mom.” 

He heard Sally stop in her tracks, so he forced his head up again. She was giving him a weird look, the same one that she’d given him when he had a stomach bug in high school, right before he threw up on her shoes. “Hi, honey. Are you alright?” 

“Fine,” Nico said with a shrug. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

She reached out and pressed the back of her hand to his forehead. “Feeling alright? Getting enough sleep?”

“Uh, yeah?” 

“Everything alright with Leo?” 

Nico felt his shoulders tense, but he hoped it wasn’t noticeable. “Yes,” he said, probably too quickly, and followed it up with, “why do you keep asking?”

“You only call me mom when something’s wrong,” she told him. “So, anything you’d like to talk about?” 

“Nope, I’m good,” he assured her.

She eyed him, like she didn’t quite believe it, and said, “Would a hug help?”

Nico felt some of the tension drain away, and he even started to smile. “Yeah, actually, I think it would.” 

“Good,” Sally said as she came around the corner of the counter, and suddenly a six year old was being pushed in Nico’s direction, “because Estelle has been pestering me all morning about when she was going to see you again.” 

“Nico!” Estelle shrieked as she ran toward him, and Nico barely managed to stand up and catch her as she jumped into his arms. He settled her on his hip, even though she was getting a little too big to be held like that for very long, and his mind flashed back to the tubs of ice cream in Will’s arms - surely Estelle wasn’t lighter than a tub of ice cream, right? Surely Nico wasn’t that weakened by the sight of an attractive man in front of him. Right? “I missed you!” Estelle continued, wrapping her arms around Nico’s neck and squeezing just tight enough that he could feel his airway getting pinched. He loved that kid and her inability to tell what may or may not be life-threatening to him.

“I missed you, too,” Nico told her. “You didn’t want to hang out with Dad today? Thought it’d be more fun to hang out with me?”

“Yeah!” Estelle replied. “Daddy’s work is boring, and Mommy said maybe we can get ice cream next door.” 

“Oh, yeah?” Nico asked, his mind flashing back to Will once more, and his eyes flickered toward the freezers - which Sally was slowly approaching. “Oh, shh-- oot. Uh, Sally?” 

He set Estelle on the ground and rushed around the counter, trying to reach her before--

“Nico?” she asked, opening up one of the freezer doors. “What is...this?” 

“Uh, yeah,” he said, rubbing awkwardly at the back of his neck. “About that.” 

Nico had been a little out of it ever since he picked Leo up from work that evening - probably even longer than that, if Leo had to guess. He was almost tempted to text Sally and ask if she knew what was going on, but he figured he should probably give Nico more time to come to him, if that’s what he needed.

Nico made dinner - if reheating leftovers counted as making dinner - and Leo cleaned up afterwards as per their usual arrangement. Once he’d finished washing up, Leo found Nico on the living room couch, laying against one arm with his phone clutched over his chest, eyes narrowed as he frowned at the screen. Leo dropped onto the other end of the couch and pulled Nico’s legs across his lap.

“Do you know how much a tub of ice cream weighs?” Nico asked, breaking the silence around them. He dropped his phone flat against his chest with a frustrated huff. “Google isn’t helping me.” 

“You mean, like, a pint?” Leo asked.

Nico shook his head quickly and pushed himself to sit up a little taller. “No, no, like the big tubs. Like, the ones they have at an ice cream shop. They’re probably, like, five gallons, or something like that.” 

“Well, how much does a gallon of milk weigh?” Leo asked. “It can’t be more than, like, ten pounds, right?” 

Nico lifted up his phone and tapped at the screen with his thumbs for a few seconds before answering, “Almost nine pounds.” 

Leo shrugged. “Alright, so one of those tubs of ice cream is probably around forty-five or fifty pounds. Why?”

Nico’s eyes widened, and he shook his head again. “No, that can’t be right.” 

“Why not?” 

“Because, this--” Nico huffed again and sat up fully, pulling his legs off Leo’s lap to sit criss cross on the cushion, still facing his boyfriend. “This guy came into Sally’s today - he’s at that new place next door, the ice cream shop that Sally told us about last week - and he said they needed to borrow a freezer, or something like that. So he comes in with four tubs in his arms, and-- He was, like, obviously pretty strong - I could tell that just by looking at him - but there’s no way he was carrying two hundred pounds of ice cream without even breaking a sweat!”

Leo frowned. “Yeah, no, that doesn’t sound right.” He darted forward to grab Nico’s phone and did a quick search of commercial ice cream tub size. “This says they’re only three gallons each. So, what’s that, twenty-five or thirty pounds instead? Overall, like, just over a hundred pounds.” 

Nico started nodding slowly, his eyes glazed over as he stared at the wall behind Leo. “Yeah, that makes more sense. I mean, this guy had, like, really nice arms, but-- You know, not even Jason could’ve carried two-hundred pounds without breaking a sweat, right?” 

Oh, Leo thought, his heart sinking with the realization, that’s where his head is at.  

He sunk back in his seat and tossed Nico’s phone onto the cushion between them. “I have arms, too, you know,” he said blandly.

“No, I know,” Nico said quickly, his eyes coming back into focus just for a few seconds before he started looking past Leo again - no doubt picturing that stranger in his head as he continued, “it’s just that… I don’t even have a comparison for how big his arms looked when he was carrying all that ice cream around. Like, he probably could’ve picked me up and thrown me around, no problem!” 

Leo huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “I could probably pick you up, too!” 

Nico’s eyes snapped toward him, widening as he seemed to realize what he’d been saying. “Oh, no…” He scooted himself across the couch until he could reach out for Leo’s hand, and gave it a squeeze. “I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant, I--” Nico pulled Leo’s hand up toward his mouth and pressed a kiss to his knuckles. “I love you, and I shouldn’t be talking about some other guy like that, especially not in front of you. I’m sorry if the stuff I said upset you, I promise I didn’t mean to make you feel shitty.” 

Leo took a deep breath to calm himself down, and then lifted his arm to wrap it around Nico’s shoulders without pulling their hands apart. He tugged Nico against his side and kissed the top of his head. “No, you didn’t, but-- Okay, maybe a little bit. But I know you didn’t mean any of it.”

“Right,” Nico said, resting his head on Leo’s shoulder, “‘cause it’s like you said this morning, you’re the only one for me, or whatever.”

“I think it was the other way around,” Leo replied. He reached down and hooked his free arm underneath Nico’s legs, pulling his boyfriend halfway onto his lap and allowing Nico to settle in further. Then, just when it felt like Nico had fully relaxed, Leo shrugged his shoulder lightly and tapped on Nico’s leg. “Hey, wait, let me up.” 

“What? Ugh, why?” Nico complained, sluggishly moving away. 

“Because, now let me up.” Leo got to his feet as soon as his lap was free, and in an instant, he was reaching out for Nico’s hands to pull him up, too. Nico tried to go limp, but he’d learned long ago that it was better to humor Leo early on rather than letting something like this drag on for the rest of the night. Still, that didn’t stop Nico from grumbling on his way up. “Hands here,” Leo instructed, placing Nico’s hands on his shoulders. 

“Are we dancing?” Nico asked with a chuckle, loosely linking his hands behind Leo’s neck while Leo looped his arms around Nico’s waist. “Seriously, babe, what--”

Leo tightened his hold around Nico’s waist and leaned back until Nico’s feet were barely skimming the ground. 

“Wh-- Hey!” Nico exclaimed, wiggling until Leo lost his grip and he slid back onto the floor. 

“Just-- Hang on a second!” Leo swooped down and wrapped one arm around the backs of Nico’s knees, and swept him off his feet. “Ha! I did it!” 

Nico’s grip around his shoulders was strong, like he didn’t quite trust Leo not to drop him at any second. “Ha, ha,” Nico said blandly, though he couldn’t hold back his grin, “you did it. Now put me down.” 

“What? No way!” Leo said, his breaths already strained. “I have to prove my strength, and if this is the way to go, then I’m never setting you down.” 

Nico rolled his eyes. “You realize that’s incredibly impractical.” 

“‘S fine!” Leo huffed, and decided for some reason to start walking. 

He didn’t even make it one step before his legs gave out from under him, and he fell forward. Leo tried to stick a hand out to brace them before they hit the ground, though he doubted it did much. Nico groaned when Leo landed on top of him, though within seconds he was laughing. 

Leo propped himself up over Nico and frantically asked, “Oh my god, are you okay?”

Nico nodded, still laughing. “Fine. Bruised, but fine.” 

“Good.” Leo sighed, relaxing on top of him and holding the tip of his nose against Nico’s. “You know, I think I just fell for you.” 

Nico groaned loudly and tried to shove him away.

Fridays at Fire Hazard sucked - though Leo was pretty sure that was a universal restaurant experience. It didn’t help that Fire Hazard was known for their Friday Fish Fry, either. Saturdays equally sucked, for the most part, because everybody went out to eat on Saturdays. But Sundays? Leo loved working Sunday nights. Sure, the place was already crowded around lunchtime, but once dinner rolled around, people tended to be winding down at home for work the next day. Leo got to start closing cleaning almost three full hours early on some Sundays.

He was goofing off with one of the other cooks on a Sunday afternoon - there were still diners in the restaurant, so they couldn’t do anything too crazy - when he overheard something of a heated conversation at the pickup counter. Leo poked his head out of the kitchen and spotted one of the new waitresses standing behind the counter, telling some guy in a tacky t-shirt that she couldn’t just give away free food.

“I’m not asking for free food,” the guy - tall, blond, probably could’ve gone up one t-shirt size considering the way that one was clinging to his shoulders - argued, waving a slip of paper between them. “I work next door! Lou Ellen said that this is, like, a thing that you guys do!”

“Well, I’m gonna have to call my boss--” 

“Hey, Holly,” Leo cut in quickly, jumping over to the counter, “is there a problem over here?”

“No, there’s no problem,” tall, blond, and handsome said quickly, his blue eyes landing on Leo and widening, and suddenly Leo found himself frozen at the sight of so many freckles.  

“Yes, there is!” Holly argued. “This guy’s asking for free food!” 

Leo gave the guy a once-over - for his own selfish reasons, but also to make it seem to Holly like he was really taking his time to make sure the dude wasn’t a threat. “You work next door?” Leo asked, as if the tie-dyed we all scream for ice cream shirt didn’t make it obvious. The guy nodded, so Leo turned to Holly. “We have a system, okay? We get a discount on stuff next door, and sometimes we trade dinner for ice cream. Chiron knows about it, and he owns both places anyway, so it’s no big deal. Next time, just take their order, okay?” 

Holly crossed her arms with a huff. “Fine.” 

Leo’s eyes drifted back towards the tall drink of water beside him, and nodded his head back toward the kitchen. “Follow me, I’ll get your order in.” He led the way into the kitchen, drawing the other man in just past the door, and then made sure that Holly wasn’t watching or listening. Leo spun back around to find the other man fidgeting with the paper in his hand, so Leo reached out for it. “Is this your order?” 

“Oh! Uh, yeah!” He held the paper out for Leo to take. “Thanks for jumping in back there. I left all my money next door, and Lou’s already getting cranky because the store has been too busy for either of us to run over here, so… Thanks.”

“No problem,” Leo replied with a grin, causing the other man to slowly start smiling back. “You know, in the future, you should just come straight back here. If you go to the counter, they’re just gonna expect you to pay and tip, even if they’re getting ice cream out of the deal. So, yeah, just come to me, next time. I’m Leo, by the way.” He punctuated his sentence with a wink, and then flinched at his own actions.

Did he just wink? Why would he do that? And why did he feel some sort of warm satisfaction at the way the other guy’s cheeks turned pink?

“I’m Will,” he said, his smile growing, and Leo had to drop his gaze to the paper in his hand. 

He skimmed the order, and then flipped the page over to see that the other side had been left blank. “You didn’t write down the ice cream flavors.”

Will blinked. “Was I supposed to?”

“Um, yeah. I mean, Lou usually does, at least,” Leo said quickly, holding his hands out placatingly as if to make sure Will wouldn’t feel like he’d made a mistake. “It’s totally fine, it’s just, like. You know, how am I supposed to know what my options are, right?” He finished with a laugh, suddenly feeling incredibly awkward.

“Oh! Of course, I’m sorry!” Will said, and scratched at the back of his neck. “You know what? I was scooping for a few minutes earlier. I bet I could remember most of them… Let’s see, uh--” He started listing off flavors from memory, one hand moving out in front of him as if he was pointing out where each tub was in the cooler, as if he was standing behind it. Leo found himself zoning out as Will listed the flavors, in awe of how easily he was recalling the memory. He realized too late that he should’ve been paying attention, and only caught the last flavor as Will said, “And, uh, chocolate.” 

Leo blinked. He’d always known that he tended to find himself more attracted to a mind or personality over appearance, but he was suddenly struck with the realization that Will was apparently more than just a pretty face (and some nice arms. Maybe Nico was onto something with his minor obsession with arms).

“Um,” Leo started, “I’ll take, uh. Chocolate.” 

“Chocolate,” Will repeated with a grin and a nod, “cool. Should I ask around here, and see if anybody else wants anything?”

"Oh, wait!" Leo said, his eyes widening as he felt himself start to bounce on his toes. "Do y'all have the stuff to make mangonadas yet?"

Will blinked. "Is that...a milkshake? Lou says we can't make milkshakes because we--" he made air quotes with his hands as he said, "--ran out of milk."

Leo was torn between laughing at the cute, confused look on Will's face, and pouting in disappointment. Chiron had been promising him a mangonada for months. 

"You know what?" Leo waved a hand dismissively. “Never mind. And if anybody else wants something, I’ll just send them over once we slow down. And, uh, I’ll have all of this ready for you in about ten minutes, okay?” He glanced down at the paper, skimming the order again. “A BLT and a veggie wrap with no mushrooms? Yeah, I’ll have this out in no time. So, uh, see you in about ten minutes?” 

“Sounds good,” Will said, stuffing his hands in his pockets and smiling softly at Leo. “Just come right back to you, right?” Leo nodded, and Will’s smile brightened. “Cool. See you soon.” 

Will turned to leave, pushing the kitchen door open with his shoulder as he walked out. Without his permission, Leo’s feet began to follow after him, and he found himself leaning out of the kitchen, calling out, “Don’t forget my ice cream!” 

Will paused at the front door, turning back to Leo to say, “I won’t,” with a wink of his own, and Leo thought he might die.

Another huff from Holly pulled Leo from his daze after Will was gone and the door had closed behind him. “Don’t I get any ice cream?” she demanded.

Leo was saved from having to respond - or from banging his head against the nearest wall - by the phone on the counter starting to ring. “Don’t you need to get that?” he asked before ducking back into the kitchen.

He heard her say, “Fire Hazard, what do you want?” before he was far enough away that the sound of burgers cooking on a flattop drowned out the sound of her voice. He briefly wondered how much longer she would last, until he remembered the slip of paper in his hand and got to work.

Nico didn’t work on Sundays. He usually had another day or two throughout the week where he didn’t have to go to work, but Sundays were always his day off. Sometimes he used the day to sleep past noon, and sometimes he deep-cleaned the entire house because he got bored.

This particular Sunday, he dedicated the second half of the day to making one of his mama’s old recipes. It was one that he’d tried to make a few times before, but his mama had never written down the ingredients, so it usually took a bit of experimenting. He hadn’t had this dish in its true form since probably the year before he entered high school, which was also about a year before he lost both parents and his older sister to a car accident while he’d been sleeping over at Percy’s.

He tried not to dwell on things like that anymore.

The dish turned out...fine. Leo would probably think it was spectacular, but if Bianca was there, she’d be able to tell him exactly what was wrong about it. Too much rosemary, or maybe he wasn’t supposed to use any rosemary at all? Whatever. He ate some, and it didn’t taste horrible, so he would save the rest for leftovers to have throughout the week. 

Nico had left everything out for a short while to cool before he started transferring it all into tupperware to store in the fridge, when Leo came home.

“Ooh, baby, it smells amazing in here!” he called out as he kicked off his shoes by the door. He stepped up behind Nico and set his chin on Nico’s shoulder, peering down at the pasta dish now sitting in the tupperware. “What’d you make?” 

“One of Mama’s,” Nico said, trying not to sigh as the words came out, though he wasn’t sure he succeeded, if the way that Leo wrapped his arms around Nico’s stomach and kissed the side of his neck was any indication.

“I bet it’s perfect,” he said, “and I bet she would be so proud of how talented her favorite son is.”

Nico snorted. “She’d smack my hands with a wooden spoon for not paying close enough attention when she tried to teach me before. I still don’t get why she couldn’t just write it down.”

“Because it’s in your blood!” Leo insisted. “In your Italian genes. It’s been passed down through the generations - the garlic and pesto and the...tomatoes.” 

“Then clearly my dad’s genes and his inability to cook are messing with my Italian...heritage, or whatever.”

“Oh, c’mon, he couldn’t cook anything?” Leo asked, finally releasing Nico and attempting to dip a finger into the pasta sauce before Nico smacked his hand away. “No gumbo? Jambalaya? Uh…” He snapped his fingers a few times as if it would help him remember another name. “Red beans and rice!”

Nico rolled his eyes. “I think you’re confusing him and Hazel’s mom. Just because he dated a Creole woman doesn’t mean he was Creole himself. And before you ask, no, he couldn’t make fried chicken, either.”

Leo gasped and held a hand to his chest. “I would never.”

“You were thinking it!” 

“No!” Leo insisted. “...Maybe. Whatever. Can I try some of this, or what?” 

Nico stepped back from the leftovers. “Yeah, fine. But you’re getting a plate, not picking at it with your fingers.”

“Yes, dear,” Leo replied, and went to work making himself a plate. Leo took his plate with him to the table across the kitchen so that he would be out of Nico’s way while he finished cleaning up, and got suspiciously quiet while he ate.

Nico glanced at him over his shoulder. “Well? Is it that bad?”

“No!” Leo shook his head quickly and stuffed another bite into his mouth as if to prove how much he was enjoying it. “It’s delicious,” he insisted, his words barely comprehensible through the mouthful of pasta. Leo strained to swallow the massive bite, and then started drumming his fingers nervously against the table top. “I, um. I think I have something I need to tell you.” 

Nico stopped what he was doing instantly, though he couldn’t make himself turn around. What could he possibly have to say that would make him so nervous? They told each other everything, usually without any issue, so whatever this was, it must be important. “Okay?”

“It’s nothing bad!” Leo added in a rush. “I mean, I don’t think it’s all that bad, but it’s like… One of those, we’re in a relationship so we should tell each other these kinds of things, uh...kinds of things.” 

Nico glanced over his shoulder with a frown, and slowly, the rest of his body turned to follow. “Okay. What is it?”

Leo glanced down at his plate and took a deep breath. “Okay. So… At work today… Well, hang on. So, there’s this new guy at Screams, and…” He paused, and when he started up again, he spoke at a nearly rapid speed. “He’s very tall and very pretty, and I think I might have accidentally flirted with him. A little bit.” He winced, and glanced up to see Nico’s reaction, though Nico hadn’t moved. Really, he hadn’t had the time to process Leo’s words yet, not before Leo started talking again, at a closer to normal pace. “But obviously it didn’t mean anything! Because I love you, and he’s just some guy, and-- Are you gonna say anything?” 

Nico could feel his lips twitching at the corner as he tried to suppress a smile, to no avail. “You’re worrying too much,” Nico teased. “You’re allowed to talk to other people, you know, and it’s only really flirting if you mean for it to be. Babe, did you think I was going to be mad?”

Leo seemed to deflate - not quite relaxed, almost like he was waiting to see how Nico would really react. He shrugged, dropping his eyes to his plate once more, mumbling, “I dunno.” 

“I can be mad, if you want me to be,” Nico continued, folding his arms over his chest casually and leaning back against the counter. Leo shrugged again, so Nico said, “Alright, I’ll try to be mad. Hm…” He tapped the fingers of his free hand against his arm as he tried to think of what to say. He straightened up slightly as he started, “Okay, here it is. So, you think it’s okay to pick on me for talking about a hot guy I saw at work, but now you’re coming home and telling me that you maybe flirted with one? You know, it’s only fair if you tell me about him. What makes him so special? What’s he have that I don't?” 

“About a foot, for starters.” 

Nico brandished his wooden spoon, and Leo raised his hands in surrender even from across the kitchen, and finally he cracked a smile. 

“I don’t know!” Leo said with a nervous laugh. “He was-- I mean, yeah, he was tall. Uh, blond. He had kind of a similar vibe to Jason, I guess, but… I dunno, warmer? Not that Jason’s ever been cold, but you know what I mean, right? And, like, I barely interacted with this guy for more than five minutes, ‘cause he was really only there to trade ice cream for food, but--” Leo dropped his fork and dropped his head into his hands. “Oh my god, babe, he listed off all of the ice cream flavors from memory. I think he did it in order, too! Like, he must have a crazy good memory, or something, ‘cause it was just... amazing.”  

Hearing Leo gush about some other guy like that...Nico started to realize how much it must have sucked for Leo when he did the same thing earlier in the week. And either Leo wasn’t the jealous type, or he hid it much better than Nico did, if the way that Nico huffed and slumped against the counter was any indication. “So he has a good memory,” Nico grumbled. “I can remember stuff, too.”

Leo leaned an elbow against the table and rested his chin in his hand. “Yeah?” he asked with a teasing grin. “What did we have for dinner last night?” 

Nico blinked. “Uh--”

“I’ll even give you a hint,” Leo continued, pushing up from the table and starting toward his boyfriend. “You cooked.” 

Nico frowned, giving Leo a shove once he got close. “Well, you can’t put me on the spot like that!” 

Leo pulled Nico in for a hug and kissed the side of his head. “Aw, it’s okay. Memory isn’t everything - I love you for plenty of other reasons. And, really, as long as you remember my birthday, we’re all good.”

“Uh,” Nico muttered, “uh huh.” 

Leo pulled back. “You do know my birthday, right?”

“Of course I do,” Nico answered quickly. “It’s in, uh. J--”

“Yeah?” Leo prompted when Nico hesitated.
“Juuu--” Nico drew out the word, giving Leo a weird look as if waiting for him to fill in the rest of the word. “June.” 

“Oh, so close!” Leo wailed, making a sound like Nico had punched him in the gut. He draped his arms over Nico’s shoulders and buried his face in his neck, while Nico gave him a comforting pat on the back.

“No, I knew it was July!” Nico corrected in a rush. “I totally knew that! I was just messing with you!” 

Will was already a near-constant ball of stress and anxiety, having just finished undergrad and moved back home with his mom to work two jobs for the summer. Add onto it the fact that his mom had volunteered him to help out at the local church once a week, at a time where Will had to leave work early in order to make it to the church on time.

“You seriously don’t mind that I’m cutting out early?” Will said for maybe the fifth time that day, more than halfway hoping that his boss for the day - Lou Ellen, who was a year younger than him but had been working at I Scream, You Scream since high school - would just tell him he had to stay until the end of his scheduled shift. 

She shrugged as she stepped out from behind the ice cream counter and released the tie in her dip-dyed blue hair. She always took her hair down whenever she wasn’t actively scooping, which Will didn’t understand, because she was just going to have to tie it up again eventually. “It’s fine, dude,” Lou insisted as she crossed the store to shift a few mugs on one shelf - Will had thought they looked fine when he walked by them ten minutes ago. “It’s Tuesday - we always slow down around this time on a Tuesday. If I’m lucky, maybe we won’t even get any more customers, and I’ll be able to leave soon, too.”

Still, Will hesitated. “You don’t think Chiron would mind? I mean, I’m scheduled to be here another two hours, and I don’t want to seem flaky if I leave early every Tuesday--”

Lou punched him lightly in the shoulder. “Will, you’re good! Don’t even worry about it. Even with you having to leave early sometimes, I’d still rather have you here with me than, like, any other employee.”

“Oh,” Will said, feeling the compliment like a butterfly fluttering in his chest. “Thanks, Lou.” 

“Don’t get too sappy on me, Solace,” Lou told him as she started deeper into the store to refold some of the touristy t-shirts they had for sale. “It’s not difficult to be one of the only good employees in a tourist trap. Now, get out of here already, or you’re going to be late for your volunteer thing.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Will replied. “I’ll see you...whenever I’m scheduled to work on your day again. Probably next Tuesday.” 

Lou grinned. “Aw, Will, you shouldn’t open yourself up to such a golden opportunity for somebody to tell you, see you next Tuesday.”  

Will frowned. “Huh?” 

She waved him off. “Whatever. See you later, dude.”

“See you.” Will popped into the back room to clock out, then grabbed his backpack before leaving.

He was close enough to home that he could walk, but on days where his mom didn’t need to leave the house, she insisted that he take the car. He almost would have preferred walking to work that day so that he wouldn’t have to swing by the house to pick his mom before heading back out, but at the same time, he didn’t really want to walk into a church wearing a shirt that said we all scream for ice cream! in big block letters.

Will had barely put the car in park before jumping out of it and rushing inside, nearly running straight into his mom as she was putting on her shoes. 

“Oh, good, you’re home!” Naomi said as Will ran past her. “Honey, where are you going? We’re going to be late!” 

“Just let me change my shirt!” Will called back as he ran around the corner and into his room. He tugged off the tacky, tie-dyed shirt and stared into the open drawer of his dresser. He was going to a church - could he wear just anything? Did he need to be dressed up? No, his mom had been dressed casually, so any old t-shirt would probably do. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be doing at the church, but hopefully they wouldn’t stick their noses up at one of his old band t-shirts. 

He ran back out to the car, where he found his mom already buckled into the passenger’s seat. As Will pulled the car back out of the driveway, he said, “So, where are we going, again?” 

“That little white church in town,” his mom replied.

“Okay, sure,” Will said. “And...what am I going to be doing, exactly?” 

She reached over and set a hand on his arm. “Oh, honey, didn’t I tell you? You’re going to be doing childcare for my NA group.” 

“What?” Will barely restrained himself from slamming on the brakes and pulling onto the shoulder. “Mama, you know I’m not good with kids! Why would you volunteer me for something like that?”

“You won’t be there alone! They just need somebody over twenty-one with a first aid certification there for legal reasons. There will be at least one other person there who’s been watching the kids for a while now. Really, you’ll be more like a supervisor. The babysitter’s supervisor.”

Will took a deep breath. “Alright, fine. But do you know if there’s, like, a lot of kids? Or how old they are? Because I can probably handle a few six-year-olds, but if there are screaming toddlers, I’m not gonna be able to handle it.”

“When they first asked if you would be willing to help out, there were only two children, but that might have changed by now,” she told him. “But I know the program has been growing recently. Now, instead of just narcotics, alcoholics, and gamblers anonymous, they’ve added a grief group and sexual assault survivors group. So there could be more children coming from those groups.” She paused, tapping a finger against her lips in thought, and then said, “No, hang on, that’s not right. The grief group has been around for a while. But I know they just added another meeting, but-- Oh, now this is going to drive me up a wall!”

“Mama,” Will said as she started mumbling to herself, “Mama I don’t know where I’m going from here.” 

They arrived at the church with just enough time to spare that she was able to lead Will into the rec room, where a dark-skinned, college-age boy was watching over a couple of kids. As he was ushered into the room, Will’s mom said, “Austin, honey, this is my son, Will. He’s going to be helping you out for the summer.”

Austin nodded to Will and said, “Nice to meet you,” and then turned to Will’s mom to say, “Hey, Naomi, before you head to your meeting, you should stop by the kitchen. You didn’t hear it from me, but my mom made peach cobbler, and she’s been dying to know what you think of it.” 

Naomi’s eyes lit up, and Will suddenly felt very out of the loop. “Well, I’ll have to run for it then, so I’m not late. Will, sweetheart, you’ll be alright, won’t you?” 

“Yes, Mama,” Will said with a fond roll of his eyes. “I’m twenty-three, this isn’t my first day of pre-school.” 

Naomi tugged on his ear. “Watch it, young man, or I’ll start charging rent.” 

“Alright, alright!” Will said as Naomi tugged him down by the ear to kiss his cheek. “Bye, Mama, I’ll see you after your meeting.” 

“Bye, boys. Austin, don’t let him scare the kids,” Naomi said, patting Will on the arm. “Or, should I say, don’t let the kids scare him.” 

“Bye, Mama!” 

As Naomi turned to leave, Austin patted Will on the shoulder and led him further into the room. “C’mon, I’ll introduce you to the kids.” They crossed the room to the opposite wall, which had clearly been dedicated to playing house, if the toy kitchen, assortment of baby dolls, and plastic workbench were anything to go by. “Guys, this is Will, he’s gonna be hanging out with us,” Austin said to the kids. “Will, this is Harley--” he pointed to the boy who was pretending to saw wooden blocks at the workbench, “--and this is Estelle.” He pointed to the girl who was putting a baby doll on a tray, which she stuck into the fake oven. Austin sighed. “Stelle, you know babies don’t go in the oven, right?” 

“I’m playing Hansel and Gretel,” Estelle replied, like it should be obvious. “I’m the witch.” 

Austin reached out and ruffled her hair. “How about we channel this energy into some arts and crafts, instead, huh?” 

“Yeah!” Estelle exclaimed. “I wanna make a gingerbread house! And then I can make Harley eat the whole thing, and then he’ll have to play Hansel and Gretel with me!” 

Austin nodded. “Uh huh. I was thinking something more like...coloring books.”

“Yeah!” Estelle spun around and started toward one of the tables, but stopped when she saw Will. She narrowed her eyes up at him and crossed her arms, and Will figured she might be trying to think up the best way to cram his body into that little oven, when she finally asked, “Can you draw?” 

Will blinked in surprise. “Uh, no, not really.” 

“I don’t believe you. Come here.” Then, she grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the table. “You need some paper and some crayons, and then you’re gonna draw me a narwhal.” 

“A narwhal?” Will repeated, and Estelle nodded.

“They’re my favorite animal. My brother says they’re like the unicorns of the sea, which makes them even cooler than regular unicorns. Plus, narwhals are actually real.” 

Will gasped. “Unicorns aren’t real?”

Estelle rolled her eyes with so much force that Will almost burst into laughter.

After two hours, Will was exhausted. But, finally, Harley’s sister-slash-guardian arrived to pick him up, as did Estelle’s mother. Will could have sworn he’d seen Sally around somewhere, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He figured she must have come into one of the ice cream shops at some point, which is why he knew her face. 

Once the room was cleaned and locked up, Austin showed Will to the closet where they kept all of their supplies - totes full of paint and paper and other artsy things, and a small amount of plastic water bottles and snack bags - before taking him outside. 

As they walked, Will asked, “So, have you been doing this long?”

“Oh yeah, a while,” Austin replied. “I used to come here as a kid while my mom was in her meetings, and then at a certain point, I kind of stopped being one of the kids and started being one of the babysitters.”

“Did you grow up around here, then?” Will asked.

“Nah, I was born in Austin,” he answered, “but we moved here before I started middle school, so this place is more my home than the city ever was.” 

“No way, you’re from Austin? Me too!” Will exclaimed. “I just finished undergrad at UT-Austin before I moved back in with my mom. Small world, huh?” He took a few more steps before he almost tripped over his own two feet. “Hang on, you’re Austin--”

“I’m Austin from Austin, yeah,” he cut in. “There’s no need to dwell on it.” 

Will found his mother waiting near the car, holding a small tupperware dish in her hands and laughing with a woman who had Austin’s eyes and his same dark skin.

“Oh, there you are, dear,” the woman said as she reached into her pocket and took something out for Austin before even seeming to realize that Will was standing right next to him. “Oh, and you must be Will! Naomi’s told me so much about you! This is for you, dear.” She reached into her pocket again and pulled out a few folded bills.

Will hesitated. “Oh, I can’t take that, I’m just volunteering!” 

“Dude, this isn’t a volunteer thing,” Austin told him, flashing his own cash before stuffing it into his pocket. “This has been my steadiest form of income in the last, like, three years.”

“Honey, did I not tell you?” Naomi asked, taking the money from the other woman’s hand and placing it in Will’s palm. “I wouldn’t have pulled you out of work for something if you weren’t getting paid!”

“Oh.” Will slipped the money into his pocket. “Well, uh, thank you, uh--” 

“Latricia,” the woman filled in for him, reaching out a hand to shake. “I’m Austin’s mom, and I help with the organization here. And your mother has been a great help recently as well,” she continued, placing her hand on Naomi’s arm, and Will could’ve sworn he’d seen his mother blush. “I’ve even been trying to get her to take the reins every so often, but she gets so shy every time I bring it up.” 

Will almost laughed. “My mama, shy? Are we talking about the same woman?”

Naomi lightly smacked his arm. “Honey, please--”

“I mean, I can’t even count the number of times I’ve seen you in front of these massive crowds--”

“William,” Naomi said with a harsh tone, and Will’s mouth snapped shut. His eyes shot toward his mother, who was definitely flushed now, though she looked more embarrassed than anything. “Honey, don’t you have to work in the morning? We’d better get going. Latricia, thank you for the cobbler. I’ll call you another time to let you know what I thought of it.”

With that, Naomi spun on her heel and climbed into the passenger’s seat of the car, leaving Will to scramble after her. He didn’t say anything until they were out on the road, though his eyes flickered toward her every few seconds, unable to see her expression as her gaze was locked on the window beside her.

“Mama?” Will said quietly, hesitantly, and Naomi released a shaky breath. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything, I--”

Naomi reached over and placed a hand on his arm. “It’s alright, honey, you didn’t know. It’s...not something I’m able to talk about all that easily, because…” She laughed a bit uncomfortably, and drummed her fingers against the sides of the tupperware in her lap. “Well, they call it liquid courage for a reason, don’t they? And I haven’t exactly had a lot of courage since I stopped performing - and none of my own courage since… Well, I’m not sure that I was ever able to perform without a little...help.”

Will placed his hand on top of hers, his eyes flickering between her and the road. “Oh, Mama, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know. I promise, I won’t say anything like that again.”

“Thank you, honey,” Naomi said, and released another deep sigh. “Latricia… She knows, probably more than anyone else. She’s just so easy to talk to, and-- Well, of course she’s opened up to me as well about her own struggles. She’s been...a good friend ever since I made the move out of Austin.” 

“She does seem like a very good friend,” Will commented with a grin, and Naomi scoffed, pulling her hand away just to give him another smack on the arm. “What? I’m just saying - you two seemed pretty close.” 

Naomi rolled her eyes. “Oh, hush, you.” 

“She made peach cobbler, just for you,” Will reminded her. “And she’s eagerly awaiting your response.”

“Why don’t you tell me about that nice girl you were working with today?” Naomi asked suddenly. “And what did you think of Austin? He’s a handsome young man, don’t you think?”

Will scrunched up his nose. “Ew, Mama, I’m not gonna date my future step-brother.” 

Nico would freely admit that he was bad at math - that’s what he had Leo for - so it took him longer to close the register at night than it normally would for anyone else. It always seemed like Sally could balance the drawer in five minutes flat, while Nico felt like he was standing there for an hour after closing. 

On Tuesdays, Leo knew not to wait for a ride home unless he was planning to deep clean the restaurant until Nico could get to him, so when Nico got home, he wasn’t surprised to find Leo already sitting at their little kitchen table. There were two takeout boxes on the table: one cracked open which Leo was already eating out of, and the other still closed and sitting at the empty chair. 

“Hey,” Nico greeted as he trailed a hand across Leo’s shoulders when he walked past him, on his way to his seat. 

“Hey,” Leo said, “how was work?”

Nico scrunched up his nose. “You know, Tuesdays. Sally left early so she could go to her grief group thing, so I was by myself for the last two hours. And if I was even slightly worse as an employee, I probably would’ve closed the store early, but it’s for the best that I didn’t. I had, like, ten customers within the last half hour.” 

“Aw, babe,” Leo cooed, reaching out to cover one of Nico’s hands with his own, “I’m so sorry you had to do your job today.” 

Nico kicked him under the table. “Shut up,” he said with a half-fond, half-annoyed roll of his eyes. He opened up his takeout box and smiled when he saw what was inside. “A veggie wrap, again?”  

“I only ever see you eat vegetables when I cook them for you,” Leo replied. “Besides, I thought you liked my veggie wraps.” 

“You mean Fire Hazard’s veggie wraps,” Nico corrected. “And that’s really rich coming from you and your bacon cheeseburger.” 

“There’s tomato on this!”

“Sure there is.” Nico picked up half of his wrap and took a bite, though after only a few seconds, he was able to tell that something was...off. He looked down at what he was eating, recognizing the different layers of vegetables that were normally in the wrap, except… “Did you put mushrooms on this?”

Leo lifted his gaze from his own dinner, and Nico watched his eyes widen. “Uh. Didn’t I?”

“It doesn’t look like it,” Nico said, setting the wrap down to start peeling it apart with his fingers. “It’s not a big deal if you forgot them, I was just...expecting it.” 

“Sorry,” Leo said glumly, lowering his head and almost hiding behind his burger. “I guess I forgot them, yeah.”

Nico tapped at Leo’s shin with his toes. “Hey, I just said it’s not a big deal. Why are you acting like it is?”

Leo started chewing on his lip, then set his burger down so that he could hold his hands out in front of him, as if showing that he meant no harm. “Okay, so, here’s the thing. Do you, uh, remember that new employee at Screams that I told you about?” 

Nico raised an eyebrow. “You mean your hot blond?” Nico asked. “Not to be confused with my hot blond.” 

“Oh, he’s yours, now?” Leo asked, and then rolled his eyes before dropping his gaze. “Whatever. So, he came in for lunch today and ordered a veggie wrap with no mushrooms. And...I guess he was still on my mind when I was making dinner for us.” 

Nico leaned back in his chair. “Oh.” 

Leo rocked forward, scooping Nico’s hands up off the table and giving them a squeeze. “No, no, that’s not what I meant! I wasn’t, like, thinking about him all day! And… I don’t want to be thinking about him all day, either! I have you, and I love you, and I don't want to be thinking about some random guy that I don’t even really know, but--” He huffed, his hands slipping away from Nico’s as he fell back against his chair. “I can’t help wanting to get to know him.”

After a brief silence, Nico began to nod. “I get it. We’ll just have to handle this the same way we handled the Jason situation.” 

Leo’s eyebrows shot up, and his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. “You don’t mean…?”

Nico felt himself flush. “No!” he exclaimed, far too quickly, and now that the idea was in his head… “No, I meant that we’ll get drunk and talk about it! If we don’t air it out, then we’re going to feel like we’re keeping secrets from each other, which will only make us both feel even more guilty about the whole thing. Okay?”

Leo frowned. “Okay, but--”

“But we’re not talking about hot blonds right now,” Nico cut in, quickly re-folding his veggie wrap and picking it up again. “Right now, I want to hear about your day.” 

“No, no, hang on,” Leo said, shaking his head. “You said hot blonds, like, plural. Are you telling me you’re secretly crushing on your hot blond, too?”

Nico desperately wished he would’ve spent more time out in the sun in the past week so that his flush wouldn’t have been quite so noticeable on his darker skin. As it was, he probably looked like a tomato. “We’re not talking about that right now!” 

After dinner, they moved to the couch. Nico placed two shot glasses on the coffee table, and Leo followed behind him with a bottle of tequila.

“You’re going to kill me,” Nico said as he eyed the bottle, but Leo was already pouring.

“You said it’s my turn to pick the liquor,” Leo reminded him, “and you’re so much fun with tequila.” 

Nico crossed his arms and flopped back against the couch. “I’m fun with rum, too.” 

Leo scrunched up his nose. “I’m not.” He finished pouring and joined Nico on the couch. “Alright, should we get this party started, or what?” 

“We should probably set, like, ground rules, right?” Nico asked. “If there’s anything off-limits to talk about, and when we have to drink.”

Leo shrugged. “Sure. So, we’re here to complain mostly, right? Then if either of us says anything that sounds too much like a compliment instead of a complaint, then we have to take a drink. And as long as you don’t tell me that you’re gonna leave me for him, I think anything goes.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Nico said softly, leaning back against the arm of the couch and pressing his toes into Leo’s leg. “But, anyway. Um. Your hot blond, huh?” 

Leo grinned. “I think you mean your hot blond.” 

Nico sighed and shook his head. “Okay, no. First thing’s first, we can’t keep calling them both the same thing. We need nicknames.” 

“Or we could just use their actual names. I mean, we didn’t give Jason any weird nicknames.” 

“That’s because we both know Jason, and we both knew we were crushing on him. This is different. And besides, I don’t want you chasing down every tall blond guy you see on the street being like, John? Is your name John?”  

“A-ha!” Leo jabbed a finger toward him. “So his name is John!” 

Nico kicked him in the leg. “Of course not, dumbass. Now, give your guy a nickname.” 

Leo tipped his head back in thought. “What kind of nickname are we talking about, here? Like, just a fake name, or what?” 

Nico shrugged. “I dunno, whatever you want. Like...my guy is kind of like a big ball of sunshine. And, honestly, it kind of pisses me off how bright and happy he is all the time. So, Sunshine it is.” 

“Well, if I’m thinking about it like that…” He set a hand on Nico’s ankle and started drumming his fingers against Nico’s skin. “I mean, my guy kind of reminds me of a puppy, but I think if I were to call him that, you would accuse me of having a weird kink.”

Nico grinned. “You’re right, I would do that.” 

Leo tugged on a patch of Nico’s leg hair, causing his boyfriend to kick him reflexively. “Well, easy way out! He has freckles, so, Freckles it is, I guess.” 

“Cool. So, what’s so great about Freckles, then?” 

Leo tipped his head back and groaned. “Okay, so, right off the bat, he’s--” He caught himself, spotting Nico’s grin out of the corner of his eye. “Oh, no. You’re not tricking me into drinking first!”

Early on in their relationship, Nico and Leo came clean about their attraction to a mutual friend. Now, a few years later, it would appear that they both had a type, even if neither of them were dating within that type. Jason was tall, blond, and blue-eyed. He was kind and strong, but not always the sharpest tack on the strip. 

After airing their mutual guilt for crushing on another guy while already in a relationship, Nico and Leo came to an agreement. They gave each other something of a “free pass” for if the opportunity ever arose. If, for some reason, Jason realized that he wasn’t tragically straight, and if he was the one to ask, then both Nico and Leo had each other’s permission to hook up with Jason, just once. It was a decision made while both of them were somewhat inebriated, though they never went back on their word. It became more of a joke than anything after a short while, something they would tease each other about late at night if either of them had seen Jason during the day. 

When Jason moved to California for grad school, the jokes faded away, and when it became clear that Jason probably wouldn’t ever move back to Texas, they stopped completely. 

Sometime after Nico’s fourth shot of the evening and Leo’s fifth, Leo mentioned, “You know, the last time we talked about some hot guy like this, we made a pact.” 

“It wasn’t a pact,” Nico argued, mostly laying across the couch with his feet in Leo’s lap. “It was an agreement at most.” 

“Whatever,” Leo said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I’m just saying, if we really wanna handle this just like the Jason situation, then we both know how this conversation’s gonna end.” 

Nico was already feeling warm from the alcohol in his blood, so he wasn’t quite sure whether he was blushing again or not. “I told you, that’s not what I meant to do.” 

“I’m jus’ saying!” Leo said again. “If we’re both so interested in our guys, then maybe we should both drop Jason, and we each get a new hot blond to put in his place.” 

Nico frowned. “Jason wasn’t ever gonna happen in the first place. It was, like, a joke, wasn’t it?” 

Leo shrugged. “Sure. But you would’a taken him up on it if he offered, wouldn’t you?” 

Nico sunk further into the couch. “I dunno! Not without, like, double checking with you right before, or something. Or I probably would’a asked if you could join, maybe.” 

Leo’s eyes grew big, and he grinned. “Oh, now that’s an idea!” 

Nico briefly wondered how likely it would be that the couch would swallow him up at that moment. Considering it didn’t, probably not very likely. Instead, Nico tried to smother himself with a pillow while Leo started to laugh.

He hadn’t actually ever considered that having Leo along for the ride was even an option, but now that he thought about it--

“Okay, so,” Leo said, his laughter slowly subsiding as he tugged the pillow away from Nico’s face. “Free passes for our new hot blonds, yes or no?” 

Nico shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest and glancing off to the side. “I dunno. I think I would feel more comfortable with it if I had met your guy first.” 

“Aw,” Leo cooed, patting Nico’s knee. “I get it, babe. But if you met him, then you’d steal him from me, and we can’t have that, either.” 

Nico huffed. “Then let’s settle on no free passes, at least for now. But, maybe…” 

Leo started leaning toward Nico, his eyes wide with excitement even as he started to lose his balance and had to catch himself. While propping himself up over Nico with one hand, Leo repeated, “Maybe…?” 

Nico couldn’t meet his eyes. “Maybe… Maybe a little flirting is okay? As long as we both promise it’s not going anywhere. And we’re gonna have to talk about this again sometime, like, when we’re both, uh. Sober.” 

Leo grinned. “Okay, deal. As long as you promise not to bust out any new moves that you haven’t even used on me.” He started to lower himself as he felt his arm weakening, trying to aim so that he would only be half on top of Nico, though the couch was only so big, and he was already so drunk.

“Please,” Nico said with a fond smile and a roll of his eyes, “we both know I don’t have moves.”

Will was bored out of his mind, which was typically how things went on a Wednesday afternoon at The Double Scoop. Ever since the ‘new business’ hype died down, the store rarely saw any activity outside of the random and sudden post-dinner rush. The owners of the store, Emmie and Jo, were the, “If you have time to lean, you have time to clean,” type, but at a certain point, there just wasn’t anything else to clean, and Will was left, once again, bored.

He was thinking about getting a head start on inventory - because how much could things possibly change on a day like this? - when the front door opened for, quite possibly, the first time all day. Will perked up, his mouth opening in preparation of saying hello, but when he looked toward the door, he didn’t see anyone there. With a frown, Will stepped out from behind the register to go investigate, and found a little girl approaching the ice cream counter. 

“Uh, hi,” he said, and the little girl spun toward him. He blinked in surprise. “Estelle?”

“Will!” Estelle exclaimed, and started running toward him. Will barely had a chance to brace himself before she was jumping into his arms. “What are you doing here?” 

“I work here,” he answered. “Uh, what are you doing here?” 

Estelle rolled her eyes. “I want ice cream. Duh.”

“Right, of course. But where’s your mom, kiddo?”

“She’s working.” 

“Does she know where you are?”

Estelle shrugged. “Probably.”

“Estelle, you can’t just wander around on your own!” 

“It’s fine because I didn’t cross the street,” Estelle replied. “Can I have ice cream now?”

Will hesitated. “Are you even allowed to have ice cream?” 

“I have ice cream all the time,” she said with another roll of her eyes. “Do you have strawberry? I want strawberry.” She kept one hand on Will’s shoulder while she leaned out of his hold, pointing toward the ice cream case. “Show me the ice cream!” 

Will sighed heavily. “Yeah, alright.” He stepped closer to the freezer so that Estelle could see all of the flavors inside, and she immediately started tapping on the glass, pointing to the one tub of ice cream that was a solid pink.

“That one!” she exclaimed. “I want the pink one! With gummy bears!” 

“Alright,” Will replied, “I’ll get you the pink one.” He carried her over to the register and set her down on a tall stool nearby - which he wasn’t allowed to sit on while he was on the clock, so he was pretty sure it was there just to taunt him - before he went to start scooping. He gave her a baby scoop of strawberry in a cup before he moved over to the toppings bar, but before he could reach for the gummy bears, Estelle jumped off her stool.

“Wait!” she shouted as she ran toward him. “I wanna do it!” 

Will opened his mouth to argue that she technically wasn’t even supposed to be back behind the counter, but he knew that it would only prolong the inevitable. He sighed again and said, “Alright, hang on.” He dragged the stool over to the toppings bar and allowed Estelle to climb on top of it so that she’d be able to reach the container of gummy bears. 

“I want chocolate chips, too,” she told him. “And marshmallows.” After Will helped her with the next two toppings, she added, “And whipped cream and a cherry.” 

“Okay, but I’m gonna do that part,” Will insisted, and quickly topped off the sundae before handing her a spoon. He dragged the stool back to its usual place and allowed Estelle to climb back onto the seat before handing her the ice cream monstrosity while he moved behind the register on reflex. “Oh. You probably don’t have any cash on you, huh?” 

Estelle had already managed to get whipped cream on her forehead, somehow, and had entirely ignored Will’s question.

“Yeah, okay.” Will reached into the tip jar next to the register and fished out a couple of dollars - he was the only one working that afternoon, so technically it was his money anyway - and he rang up the sundae. Once he’d finished, he turned back to Estelle, already halfway through her ice cream, and asked, “Hey, kid, where does your mama work?”

“The store,” Estelle answered simply. 

“Like, the general store?” Will asked. “The one nextdoor?” 

Estelle nodded. “My mommy’s store.” 

Then, it clicked. Will suddenly remembered where he’d seen Estelle’s mom before, and even recalled her name despite having never been formally introduced. Sally’s Saltwater Taffy. Duh. 

“Hang tight for a second, okay?” Will told her, and went on a hunt for his manager. Emmie and Jo typically took turns running the store every other day, though on the rare chance that they were both there at the same time, it always seemed impossible to find either one of them. The office was empty, there were cars in the parking lot but no people, and just about every one of the outdoor seating areas was empty - that’s what happened at two in the afternoon during the week, Will supposed. 

He finally spotted Emmie as she stepped out of the storage shed behind the building. Will glanced back to make sure Estelle was still in her seat before he stepped outside and called out, “Hey, Emmie!” 

Emmie’s head shot up as she turned toward him. “Everything alright, Will?” 

“Yeah,” he called back, “but Sally’s daughter wandered over. I’m gonna take her back nextdoor, but I’ll be quick.” 

“Sounds good,” Emmie replied, offering Will a thumbs up before she continued about her business.

Will walked back inside and found Estelle where he’d left her. “Alright, kid, I’m taking you back to your mom.” 

“Okay.” She slid off the stool, and as soon as she was on her feet, she continued eating. 

“Let’s go,” Will told her, and he turned to walk away. He stopped at the door to make sure she was following, and watched as she ran forward a few steps, then stopped to take another bite of her ice cream, then ran forward another few steps before stopping again. At the rate she was moving, Will would be away from the store for an hour. “Alright, this isn’t going to work,” he muttered to himself. “C’mere, Stelle.” 

He picked her up and placed her on his shoulders, holding her steady with his hands around her ankles. He felt her set her ice cream cup on the top of his head and he said, “If you get ice cream in my hair, I am not gonna be happy.”

Will carried Estelle outside and into Sally’s Saltwater Taffy, ducking down to make sure Estelle cleared the doorway. He couldn’t see anyone else in the store immediately upon his entrance, though as he walked further inside, he found Nico frantically searching around shelves and behind the counter. He braced himself; the sudden sight of the other man brought back the memory of his flirting disaster the last time he’d stopped by. Maybe Nico had forgotten about it - if Will could only be so lucky.

“Hey, Nico,” Will called out, then heard the thud of Nico’s head connecting with the underside of the counter. Will winced in sympathy. “Sally works here, right?” 

“Yeah,” Nico replied as he emerged, rubbing his head where he’d bumped it, “she’s the owner. Why?” He lifted his gaze to Will, and then kept lifting his gaze. His eyes widened as he recognized Estelle, and he demanded, “Estelle, did you leave? I thought we were playing hide and seek!” 

Estelle shrugged. “Yeah, I got bored, and I wanted ice cream, and Will gave me ice cream.” 

Nico leaned his elbows against the counter and scrubbed his hands over his face. “You are so lucky it was me in here and not your mom,” he groaned. He lifted his head with a grimace and said to Will, “I’m sorry about her. She didn’t give you any trouble, right?” Nico’s eyes widened again, and he jumped back from the counter, suddenly patting his pockets. “And she probably didn’t pay for her ice cream either. Let me--”

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Will said quickly as he crouched down to set Estelle back on her own two feet. “It’s taken care of. And she wasn’t any trouble, I promise.” He grinned. “I mean, if anything, it was probably a good thing I was working tonight!”

Nico’s eyes shot back up and flickered back and forth between Will’s. Will felt himself starting to blush under the attention. 

“I just mean that, uh--” Will scratched at the back of his neck and dropped his gaze, hoping to keep his face from turning bright red - at least, noticeably. “Actually, you probably didn’t know this - because, uh, why would you? - but I babysit Estelle on Tuesdays. Sort of. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that it’s a good thing she found an adult she recognized, you know?”

“Tuesdays…?” Nico repeated, and then his eyes lit up in recognition. “Oh, the grief group thing?”

“Right, exactly!” Will said, and then winced. “I mean, uh-- I actually don’t know if I’m allowed to talk about it at all, because of, like, confidentiality, or whatever, so--”

Nico waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. Sally found that group for me to go to when we first moved here, but it wasn’t exactly...my scene.” He leaned his elbows against the counter and rolled his eyes. “A few too many old ladies.”

Will caught himself smiling.

“Sally liked it well enough herself though,” Nico continued on, “so she kept going even when I told her I didn’t want to anymore. And by that point, I think I was eighteen, so it’s not like she could make me.”

Will took a few seconds to think over his next words, forming the question in his head with wording that he hoped wouldn’t sound offensive in any way. He glanced between Estelle - her tan skin, green eyes, her brown hair with little patches of silver that curled in soft ringlets - and Nico - his skin darker, probably from spending more time in the sun (though Will wasn’t sure that Nico seemed like the type to go outside more often than necessary), his nearly-black eyes, and his dark hair that wrapped in slightly tighter curls even as it fell toward his shoulders - and Will caught himself thinking that they couldn’t possibly be siblings...right?

“Sally’s not your mom, is she?” Will asked, the words tumbling out of his mouth despite his attempt at restraint.

Nico grinned - so wide that Will thought his heart might’ve skipped a beat. “No, but I get that a lot. Nah, she’s not my mom, but you could probably say that I’m, like, her spare kid.” 

Will’s head tipped to the side. “Huh?” 

Nico’s head followed teasingly. “I’m adopted.” 

“Oh!”  

“Yeah, I’ve been told that Sally and Paul picked me up because their older son is something of a dumbass - and I would know, he’s one of my best friends - so they needed someone to step in and raise the IQ points.” He nodded his head toward Estelle, who had made herself comfortable on a stool behind the register, and continued, “That’s why she hangs out with me all day. And her brother’s in New York still, but that’s a technicality.” 

Absently, Will started putting together the pieces; Nico getting adopted by his best friend’s parents, temporarily joining a grief group… This time, he managed to keep his stupid questions to himself, instead suddenly rambling out, “I’ve probably been overstepping, sorry! I should, uh, get back--”

“What? No, you’re not,” Nico replied quickly. “And besides, it’s only fair - I mean, if you think I’ve been oversharing, then I guess it’s your turn.” 

“You...what?” 

Nico leaned his elbows on the counter again, pushing closer to Will despite the barrier between them - Will felt himself being drawn back in. “You know. I gave you my deep, dark, backstory, so I think I’ve earned at least a little bit of yours.” 

Will pressed his palms to the counter, only inches away from where Nico’s hands were resting. “I don’t know if you’ve unlocked the deep, dark backstory, yet.”

“Something a little more surface-level, then? Something with a little sunshine,” Nico tried again, and Will swore he saw the other man’s cheeks darken. 

“Did you have something in mind?” Will asked, his voice dropping to a quieter tone without his permission, as if Nico was the only other person in the world, as if Estelle wasn’t still munching on gummy bears a few feet away. 

“How come I’ve never seen you around before this summer?” Nico asked. “I mean, this is a pretty small town. Everybody knows everybody here, but… I’d definitely remember seeing you around.”

Will felt himself flush straight down to his toes. How was this the same Nico he’d met a few weeks back? If Nico had been talking to him like this the last time he’d come in, then maybe Will wouldn’t have thought he’d been such a failure in the romance department. He’d probably just caught Nico off-guard before, but now… Oh, how the tables have turned.

“I, um.” Wait, what was the question? How long had Will been silent? Something about-- Small town, right. “My mama moved here a few years ago, but I was in college, so I just stayed near campus year-round, pretty much,” he answered, the words shooting out of him as if that would make up for whatever awkward pause there might’ve been before. “I came here to try to save up--”

“For grad school, right?” Nico cut in. “I remember you said something about that last time. And I don’t think I said this before, but congrats on graduating.”

“Oh, uh, thanks,” Will replied. He was pretty sure he’d turned about as red as a sunburnt lobster at that point. “And, um. Not grad school, no. Medical school, actually.” 

Nico’s eyes widened. “Really? You’re gonna be a doctor?”

“That’s the plan,” Will answered shyly. “Didn’t expect that, huh?”

“No, no, not that,” Nico rushed out, straightening up and holding his hands out in front of himself defensively. “I guess I just wasn’t thinking that scooping ice cream and performing surgery or whatever were in the same field.” 

“Hey, it takes a lot of skill to perfectly slice a banana for those banana splits!”

Nico grinned again. “I’m sure it does.”

“It does,” Will assured him with a smile of his own, even as he took half a step back. “But, uh, speaking of ice cream. I really ought to get back. I may or may not have left the store totally empty, and for all I know, there could be a whole baseball team waiting for me to get back.”

“Yeah, you’d better do that,” Nico replied, leaning against the counter again. “I’ll, uh, see you around?”

“Yeah,” Will said. He tore his gaze away from Nico to wave to Estelle. “Bye, Estelle, I’ll see you next week. And don’t run off on your own again without telling Nico!”

Nico’s eyes followed him all the way to the door, and lingered still even after Will was long gone. The only thing that managed to bring him back to the present was Estelle’s call of, “Pretty!”

“Yeah, he is,” Nico whispered, and then felt himself flush in embarrassment. “Uh, wait, what?”

“The rainbow in the door!” Estelle answered, pointing to the sunlight that shone through the glass in the door, creating a rainbow in the air. 

“Oh.” Nico laughed awkwardly. “Yeah, that’s pretty, too.” 

It had been a busy weekend for I Scream, You Scream - busy enough that there were actually three of them working for once, instead of the usual two. That probably meant that Fire Hazard had gotten slammed that day too, but Cecil had become insistent on doing a food-for-ice cream trade regardless. And still, Cecil refused to go over to the restaurant himself, even though Will had brought his own dinner, thank you.

It was probably for the best that Will was the one to leave, however, considering he hadn’t been as useful around the store ever since he’d been confined to the register earlier in the week. Lou Ellen and Cecil were the better two to stay behind, what with their two functioning hands each, while Will could barely manage to scribble out their dinner order around the bandages wrapped across his palm. 

He called out to Lou Ellen to let her know he was stepping out for a minute before he started toward Fire Hazard, the slip of paper with their dinner order held in his uninjured hand. He walked inside, immediately bypassing the takeout counter as he was told to do, and leaned into the kitchen to look around. When his eyes landed on Leo, he waved, and the other man grinned.

“Hey, Will!” he called as he hurried over to the doorway.

“Hey,” Will replied, and his eyes caught on the way that Leo’s hair was pulled back, up into a little sprout on the top of his head, likely to keep it from flopping into his eyes. Cute, Will thought. He must’ve been staring, because Leo reached up to run a hand through his hair, and when his fingers got caught in the tie, he rushed to pull his hair loose. 

“One of the girls,” he started, his voice quick and nervous, almost sounding embarrassed. “She said she was helping, but-- They probably got a good laugh out of making me look dumb, right?” Before Will could insist that, no, he didn’t look dumb, but actually very cute and Will kind of wanted to kiss him because of it, Leo said, “Anyway, what’s up? Got a dinner order for me?” 

“Oh, yeah, here,” Will replied as he passed the paper over. He started to grin as he said, “I even remembered to write down the ice cream flavors on the other side for you.” 

Leo frowned, but he wasn’t looking at the paper, so Will figured it had nothing to do with his illegible scrawl. “What happened to your hand?” he asked after a few seconds.

Will lifted his injured hand and stared at the bandages like he’d forgotten they were there. “Oh, it’s no big deal. We had a bit of a rush last night, and ever since Chiron got those new dipper wells installed--”

“Dipper wells?” Leo cut in.

“Yeah, the little thing of water that the scoops sit in to wash them off between flavors,” Will explained. “Chiron got this new setup that heats the water to, like, burn the germs off the scoops, or whatever. But, you know, since the scoops are metal, and they’re sitting in this really hot water, it...gets a little hard to handle the scoops, you know? And we usually have time to swap out the scoops and let them cool, but since there was a rush, I didn’t get the chance to swap out. And I couldn’t keep the customers waiting, so I...powered through.”

“You burned your hand?” Leo exclaimed once he put two and two together. “How bad is it?”

Will winced, and realized that his smile was probably more of a grimace. “Not too bad,” he lied. “It only blistered a little bit, and my mama said it wasn’t bad enough to warrant a hospital visit. Lou’s having me stick to the register for the next few days until it heals a bit, so it’s not like I’ll be aggravating it, or anything.” 

“That’s a second-degree burn, Will!” Leo nearly shouted. “I should know, I’ve gotten plenty of them myself. Does Chiron know that this happened?”

Will shrugged and dropped his gaze, suddenly feeling like a child getting scorned. “Lou might have told him, but I haven’t seen him around for the last few days, so, I don’t know.” 

Leo took a deep breath, and Will chanced lifting his gaze again. “Sorry,” he said, “I didn’t mean to yell, I just--” He huffed, and Will saw a fire in his eyes. “I’ll have your food ready soon. I’ll bring it over with everybody’s ice cream order.”

Will nodded. “Cool. I’ll, uh, see you in a few, then.” 

Will turned to leave with his head hanging, and Leo wanted to slap himself for putting that look on the other man’s face. 

He shook himself out of it. He had food to cook and ice cream to order, and he could worry about the rest later. 

Things started to slow down later in the day, and Leo caught his mind drifting back to the bandages around Will’s hand. He made a snap decision in his head, though he at least thought to make sure there weren’t any more food orders coming into the kitchen before he ran out the front door. 

The parking lot between Fire Hazard and I Scream, You Scream was mostly empty, so he wasn’t surprised to find Lou Ellen mopping the floor when he burst inside. 

“Watch your step--” she started to say, before glancing up to see Leo standing on the rug by the door. “Oh. Hey, what’s up?” 

Leo glanced around the store quickly - he couldn’t find another person, but the front door didn’t have the best vantage point anyway. He wanted to ask about Will, but what he said instead was, “Is Chiron here?” 

“He’s in the back, why?” Lou asked. 

“Will mentioned something about a new ice cream scoop thing,” Leo said, scanning the floor to try to find a dry path. 

“Oh, the new dipper well?” Lou rolled her eyes and leaned against the mop handle. “Yeah, it sucks. Will has, like, second degree burns from it, and I’ve been wearing rubber dish gloves whenever I have to scoop. Honestly, I was a little bit tempted to ask you to come over and short circuit the thing, but Chiron would probably kill me if I did that.”

Leo frowned. “Did y’all tell Chiron about how horrible it is?” 

Lou shrugged. “I didn’t, but I don’t know about Will. You’re welcome to, though, if that’s what you came over here for. He’s just doing paperwork, I think, so go right in.” 

“Thanks,” Leo replied. Their conversation had lasted just long enough for the floor to start to dry, meaning Leo was able to hop from one floor tile to the next without leaving tracks. He made it across the store to the door of the back office, and while the door was wide open, he still knocked before stepping inside. 

Chiron glanced up at him over the rims of his reading glasses, then smiled and removed the glasses entirely. “Hello, Leo. What can I do for you?” 

Leo stopped a few feet away from Chiron’s desk, and nervously wiped his palms across the thighs of his jeans. “So, uh--” He hadn’t thought this through. What was he supposed to say? What if he pissed Chiron off, and got fired? Was Chiron even technically his boss, if he didn’t run the restaurant? “Are you aware that your employees have been put in danger here?” 

Chiron raised an eyebrow, and Leo suddenly realized that that could come off as a threat.

“I mean, uh--” Leo shook his head, as if that would help him put his thoughts in the right order. “That new ice cream scoop thing. I think Lou called it a dipper well? It’s too hot, and it’s burning their hands. Will has a second degree burn from scooping ice cream.”

“What?” Chiron said. “When did this happen?” 

Leo shrugged. “I don’t know, I think he said it was sometime this weekend. Look, that thing is too dangerous, so you can’t keep using it.”

Chiron held out his hands placatingly. “That dipper well was installed in compliance with a new health code regulation. If I were to remove it, the health code could have this place fined or shut down.” 

Leo grit his teeth. “So shut it off, then! And when the health inspector comes by, turn it back on! Or just get new scoops with plastic handles instead of metal ones!”

“The scoops that we have now are the only ones approved for use with this new dipper well.”

Leo kind of wanted to rip his hair out. “Who invented this thing, Apple?”

“I’m sorry, Leo, there’s nothing I can do about it,” Chiron told him. “Lou Ellen seems to have the right idea by using rubber gloves, so perhaps--”

“Give me a scoop,” Leo blurted suddenly as an idea came to mind. “Just, like, let me take one home tonight, and I’ll see if there’s anything I can make that’ll be safer for Will. And Lou,” he tacked on quickly. “I won’t destroy anything, I promise. I’ll just try to, like...add something on to it.” 

Chiron hesitated for a second before nodding. “Alright. Have Lou Ellen show you where they are. And if you do destroy it, I’ll be expecting you to pay for a new one.” 

Nico had driven out to the bar to pick Leo up after his shift, but after waiting for almost twenty minutes - and calling his boyfriend twice - Nico figured Leo must have decided to walk home instead. This wasn’t the first time it had happened - sometimes Leo got too caught up in his own head that he would forget what day it was, or that Nico had promised to pick him up - so Nico tried not to let himself get irritated by the fact that he could’ve been home half an hour earlier. 

When he walked into the house, he found Leo tucked into his little work table corner, hunched over in his seat with a mess of planning papers and other objects around him. Nico tried to make a bit of noise as he shut the door and kicked off his shoes, just so that Leo wouldn’t be startled by his presence, though Leo was so far in the zone that Nico wasn’t sure it had made any difference. 

Nico walked up behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder and feeling Leo tense momentarily, before he hugged him from behind and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “What are you working on?” Nico asked softly as he placed his chin on the top of Leo’s head. Leo had maybe two inches on him when they were both standing, so Nico tended to relish in the moments where he could be the taller of the two for once. 

“Ice cream scoop,” Leo answered plainly, seeming to not even notice the extra weight on his back.

Nico glanced down at the table, eyeing everything on it that was decidedly not an ice cream scoop, but he wasn’t about to argue. “Huh,” he said instead. “Okay. Did you eat?” 

“Uh huh,” Leo replied, though Nico was pretty sure that he’d stopped listening.

“Okay, well, I’m gonna make myself some dinner,” Nico told him, brushing his fingers through Leo’s curls as he started to walk away. “It’s not gonna bug you if I put on some music, right?” 

Leo made a noncommittal sound, which Nico took as a green light. He left Leo to his own devices and went into the kitchen to make himself something to eat, playing music from his phone as he did so. He ate on the couch in front of the TV, and washed his dishes once he was finished. He never noticed Leo moving from his spot, and Nico figured that, after a few hours, he should probably check in on his boyfriend. 

He set his hands on Leo’s shoulders, digging his thumbs into the muscles of Leo’s back. Leo relaxed under the touch almost instantly, his head tilting forward to give Nico more room to work with. “How’s it going, hot stuff?”

“Not as well as I was hoping,” Leo sighed.

“Wanna talk through it?” Nico offered. “That usually helps, doesn’t it?” In Leo’s case, talking it through was almost always the right path. Nico had even gotten him to talk through his thinking process on the gift he was trying to make for their second anniversary - the bouquet of solid gold roses was still on display in the living room nearly a year later.

Leo dropped whatever he was working with and leaned back in his chair. He took a deep breath before launching into his explanation of, “So, Chiron got this new ice cream scoop dipper thing. The thing that they use to rinse off the scoops in between servings. And I guess the old one was better and more user friendly, but it wasn’t up to code, so he had to get a new one. And this new one heats up the water, which heats up the ice cream scoops - and I looked it up; these things are set to run at 140 degrees fahrenheit. Everybody at Screams has to touch 140 degree metal with their bare hands, and Chiron was like, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“Oh my god,” Nico said, “is Lou Ellen okay?”

“Yeah, she’s fine,” Leo answered. “I mean, she’s angry about it, but she’s fine. She started wearing rubber gloves when she scoops, but she’s not the one that got a second degree burn.”

“Holy shit,” Nico said, blinking in surprise as he tried to remember who else worked at Screams that Leo was friends with. “Oh. Oh, this is about Freckles, isn’t it?”

“No,” Leo said quickly, defensively. “It’s-- I’m-- This is for all of them. It’s dangerous, and--”

“Hey, sorry, that’s not what I meant,” Nico cut in, lifting his hands off Leo’s shoulders and moving in front of him so that they could look at each other while they spoke. He leaned against the table and placed a hand on Leo’s arm as he said, “I wasn’t trying to tease you, I was just wondering. Is he the one that got hurt?”

Leo hesitated before nodding. “He didn’t show me, but he said it was all blistered. And his whole hand was wrapped up when I saw him.” He paused briefly before he said, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have gotten so defensive.” 

“No, don’t worry about that,” Nico assured him. “You care, and that’s a good thing. That’s one of the things I love about you.” He leaned forward and kissed Leo’s cheek, high up on his cheekbone. “So, how are you going to fix it?” 

Leo groaned. “I don’t know. I think I need to do more research and see what’s so special about this one kind of ice cream scoop. And why Chiron can’t just buy some other one.”

“Do you need me to leave you alone?” Nico asked genuinely. 

Leo pouted. “Well, when you say it like that, it sounds rude.” 

Nico leaned in for another kiss, on the lips this time. “I’ll give you your space, but I’m coming to get you when it’s time for bed.” 

Nico went back to the couch to watch a little more TV, until he started yawning and feeling a little too comfortable against the throw pillows. He shut off the TV before getting to his feet and stretching his arms over his head. He glanced toward Leo’s work table to see him working furiously for the first time all night, tinkering with an ice cream scoop that Nico had never seen before. Nico figured he would let Leo stay on his roll for a little while longer, and went to brush his teeth.

When Nico came out of the bathroom, he walked up behind Leo once more and draped his arms over Leo’s shoulders. “Time for bed, babe,” he said softly.

“I’ll be there soon,” Leo said, sounding kind of like he’d drank an entire pot of coffee while Nico wasn’t looking.

“Leo--”

“I think I’m on to something here, babe,” Leo cut in. I’ll be as quick as I can, I promise.” 

“Fine,” Nico replied, and stepped away. As he started toward their bedroom, he called back, “I’m waiting up for you!” 

“Love you, too!” Leo replied. 

Nico did not manage to wait up for him. Almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, he fell asleep. He didn’t wake until his alarm went off in the morning, and the sight of the empty bed beside him told him everything he needed to know. 

He rolled out of bed with a groan and stomped out of the room. Immediately, he could smell something burning. 

As he rounded the corner, he saw Leo soldering something onto the ice cream scoop.

“Babe,” Nico called out, his voice clipped. “What the hell.”

Leo lifted his head in surprise, and grinned when his eyes landed on Nico. “I figured it out! Come here, let me show you.”

Nico crossed his arms, but he continued forward despite his irritation. “I thought you were coming to bed.”

“I will, I will,” Leo said, waving it off and clearly having no idea what time it was. “So, after I looked some stuff up, I found out that this scoop is made of aluminum, according to the internet, and aluminum is a good heat conductor. After looking into a few other types of metal, I learned that stainless steel is not as good of a conductor, plus it won’t rust like other stuff. So I figured, if I fastened a stainless steel handle onto the aluminum scoop, then it’ll take longer for the scoop to get so hot. There’s still a burn risk, but it’s way less. They’ll still have to be careful, but it won’t be the end of the world if the scoop sits in the water for a little while. 

“I even tested it out already by boiling some pieces of scrap metal I had lying around. I might have burned myself a little bit in the process, but it’s nothing I haven’t dealt with before. And look! It’s almost done!” Leo held up his creation proudly, and Nico almost forgot why he was frustrated. 

“Okay, I’m still mostly asleep, so I didn’t catch most of that, but…” Nico paused to yawn, and then smiled at Leo. “It looks great. You’re very smart, and I’m very proud of you. So, do you want coffee?”

Leo shook his head and turned back to his project. “Nah, I’m just gonna finish this up and then I’ll come to bed, promise.” 

Nico paused. “Babe, it’s ten in the morning.” 

Leo blinked. “Huh?”

After crashing for a few hours and chugging half a pot of coffee, Leo arrived at Screams shortly before his shift at Fire Hazard started. He managed to show off his new creation to Chiron, who, apparently satisfied with his work, commissioned Leo to adjust the rest of their scoops. He returned to Screams after his shift to pick up the remaining scoops, and ended up pulling another all nighter just to get everything done before the store opened the next day. 

Nico had tried to get Leo to call in sick to work, but Leo assured him that he’d be fully functioning after a quick nap and a pot of coffee. Still, Nico insisted on driving him to Screams, even if it did make him a few minutes late to his own job.

Leo burst through the door at Screams with the newly modified ice cream scoops in hand, and his eyes immediately found Will where he was straightening up one of the displays. 

“Hello, welcome to--” Will started as he glanced over his shoulder, though when his eyes landed on Leo, he cut himself off with a grin. “Hey, Leo, what are you doing here?” 

“Hey, Freckles!” Leo called out, and he tossed the scoops without waiting to make sure Will was ready to catch them. Luckily, he seemed to have better reflexes than Leo - or maybe Leo was a little more tired than he thought he was. “Those are for you.” He winked. “You can thank me later.” 

Will stared down at the scoops with a look of confusion before his eyes widened and he lifted his gaze to Leo. “Hang on, you...fixed them? How?” 

Leo shrugged and went to casually lean against the nearest display before realizing that it was a postcard rack. He righted it just as it was about to tip. “Oh, you know. Math and science and, like. Soldering. No biggie.” 

Will’s head tilted, and his lips turned down in a concerned pout. If Leo had been just an ounce more tired (and also single - that’s the more important part) he might’ve tried kissing that pout off of Will’s face. “Did you stay up all night just to get this done?” 

“Pssh,” Leo replied with a dismissive wave of his hand, “a magician never reveals his secrets. Anyway, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go crash in the office next door for the next, like, two hours, and then chug a whole pot of coffee before my shift. Let me know how those scoops work out for you!”

Without waiting for a response, Leo spun on his heel and marched out the door, across the parking lot, and into Fire Hazard, where his coworkers were prepping for the lunch rush. Leo greeted them as he passed, though he didn’t stick around to help. Instead, he walked straight into the back office and threw himself down into the office chair, propping his feet up on the desk. It wouldn’t be the most comfortable place to fall asleep, but it wasn’t like he hadn’t slept there before.

Just as he was drifting off, Leo was struck with the realization that he’d called Will Freckles to his face.

Will was being tested. In a million ways all at the same time, it felt like, but on that day in particular, Emmie and Jo were testing him to see if he was “management material.” He wasn’t even sure that he wanted to be a manager, and besides, this was only supposed to be a summer job. He didn’t want to get roped into working at some tourist trap year-round, especially since the place would no doubt be boring as hell once tourist season ended. 

To make matters worse, Emmie and Jo were probably expecting him to be harsh on the kids - at least as harsh as they were. That meant no sitting on the job, no food or drinks when they weren’t on break, and if you have time to lean, you have time to clean. Will couldn’t live like that! Finally, there was no one in the store to tell him that he wasn’t allowed to sit down, but he had to lead by example, right? He couldn’t sit on the job just because he had worked the last two weeks straight with no day off. These kids were probably tired of standing, too, but that was no excuse. 

Actually, no. Fuck that. Will was going to sit down - on the floor if he had to. As long as everything got done by the time they closed that night, Emmie and Jo would be none the wiser on how much time they spent sitting or eating. 

“I’m hungry,” Will announced after a solid hour with no customers. It definitely wasn’t ice cream weather - overcast skies that threatened rain, and temperatures that were considered low for Texas, even if that was still considered hot anywhere else - so Will wasn’t expecting things to pick up anytime soon. “Y’all wanna order a pizza?”

He took a page out of the I Scream, You Scream playbook and called over to Riverside, offering to trade a few scoops of ice cream for a single pizza, with delivery. He swore Meg and Alice to secrecy, and insisted that they all split up to get as much cleaning, organizing, and restocking done as possible before the pizza was ready. Then, they could eat and relax all they wanted. 

Will made sure that the floor was so clean that they could eat off of it by the time their pizza was delivered, and he scooped a few cups of ice cream for the Riverside employees. Once the store was empty again, Meg turned to Will with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow, saying, “You know, Emmie would kill us if she ever found out about this.” 

“That’s why she’ll never find out,” Will reminded her. “And just to be extra safe, we’ll keep the pizza back here, and we’ll sit on the floor so that she and Jo won’t be able to see us sitting at one of the tables if they happened to drive by.”

Alice wrinkled her nose. “Uh, I’ve cleaned this floor before, and I’m not sure it’s clean enough to eat off of.” 

“We’re not eating off of it,” Will replied, “we’re sitting on it and eating straight out of the box.” 

“I don’t think that’s any better.” 

Will shrugged. “You can stand if you want to, but I’m sick of standing.” With the pizza box in his hands, Will plopped down onto the floor, and Meg quickly followed. Alice joined them after a few seconds.

Unsurprisingly, their meal went uninterrupted, and - unbelievably! - Meg and Alice were much happier to return to work after their short break. They ended up with a few slices of pizza leftover, and while none of them wanted it to go to waste, they couldn’t leave any evidence behind when Emmie and Jo inevitably returned that night to lock up. Luckily, Will knew somebody else nearby who might be in need of a snack.

“Hey, are you two gonna be okay by yourselves for a few minutes while I run this next door?” Will asked, indicating the pizza box in his hand by lifting it higher.

“No way, we’re totally swamped right now, Will!” Alice said in faux-sincerity before she burst into giggles. 

Meg narrowed her eyes at him. “Who are you taking it to?” 

“I’m gonna see if Nico’s working tonight. And if he doesn’t want it, I’m sure Sally or somebody else will take it,” Will answered innocently, because he had nothing but the purest of intentions.

If Meg tried to narrow her eyes any further, she wouldn’t be able to see him. “Alright, fine. But don’t be long. You know that people always come in whenever we want them here the least.” 

“Five minutes, tops,” Will assured them, and ran out the door with the pizza box in hand as Alice called after him, “I’m timing you!”

Will rushed over to Sally’s Saltwater Taffy and found Nico behind the counter once he got inside. He was looking just as bored as Meg and Alice had been before their pizza break, so hopefully a quick snack would cheer him up as well. 

“Hey,” Will greeted with a smile as he stepped up to the counter.

“Hey, Will,” Nico replied with surprise in his eyes, though he smiled back almost instantly. “What’s up?”

Will set the pizza box on the counter. “Well, we ordered a bit too much pizza earlier, and I didn’t want it to go to waste, so I was wondering if you wanted the rest?”

“Oh, thanks!” Nico replied. “I actually forgot my lunch today, so this is great, thank you. Hang on just a second, let me grab my wallet so I can pay you back.” 

“No, don’t worry about it!” Will insisted as he took a step back from the counter. “Just take it, seriously. I gotta get back to work, but I’ll see you around, yeah?” 

“Uh, yeah, see you,” Nico replied, offering a wave as Will ran back out of the building. As he started back to The Double Scoop, he saw a couple of cars pulling into the parking lot, and he picked up his pace. Just like Meg had said, they always showed up at the worst time.

There was already a line forming at the ice cream counter as Will fought his way inside, shooting a look to Alice that said, where the hell did all of these people come from? He washed his hands, probably faster than he should have - but hey, it was better than not washing them at all - and jumped up beside Meg to help serve the next customer. 

He figured there must have been a little league baseball game nearby, or something, because the people just kept coming, and a lot of them were wearing the same handful of colors. Somewhere among the crowd, he could’ve sworn he saw Nico and Estelle, though if they’d ordered ice cream, Meg had been the one to serve them, so Will couldn’t know for sure. 

After at least an hour straight of scooping cones and mixing milkshakes - and thanking any and all deities that his burned hand had healed enough that it could be used again - the store finally started to clear out again.

“What the fuck,” Meg announced once the last customer had left the building, and Will and Alice couldn’t help but fall into a fit of hysterical giggles.

Once he caught his breath again, Will said, “Alright, it’s--” a quick glance at the clock on the register, “--half an hour until closing. You two go ahead and do some damage control, and I’m gonna make sure the register has the right amount of change for the morning.”

As Meg and Alice got to work cleaning up spills on both sides of the ice cream counter, Will popped open the drawer to check the change. Rather than heading back to the safe and pulling out rolls of coins that he would only have to count out later, he reached for the tip jar to turn coins into dollars. As he fished around inside the jar - which was actually a sand pail to fit with the store’s beachy theme - he spotted a twenty dollar bill inside.

“Hey, Alice?” he called out. “Were you making change from the tip jar earlier?” 

“No, why?” she replied.

Will held up the bill for the others to see. “Somebody tipped us a twenty.” 

“Oh, nice!” Alice exclaimed.

“I bet it was your boyfriend,” Meg said. 

Will straightened up like a shock had passed through his body. “My what?”  

Her eyeroll was audible in her voice as he replied, “Please, we all saw Nico making eyes at you earlier.” 

He felt like his face had to be as red as a tomato. “Don’t you have something to clean?” 

Nico had to take a day off work so that he could drive to the airport. Hazel liked to visit at least twice a year - once in the summer, because she liked pretending to be a tourist sometimes, and once around Christmas so that they could have a joint Christmas-and-their-birthdays celebration - but she usually came during the week, specifically on days that Nico and Leo didn’t have to work.

Nico didn’t actually mind having to take the day off, since it meant he got to spend time with his sister, but he was dreading the upcoming weekend where he would have to work open-to-close two days in a row to make up for ditching.

He had intended on taking Hazel out for lunch on the drive home and then hanging out inside until Leo got home, but after they had finished up their lunch, Hazel said, “You should take me to that new store that opened up next to Sally’s.” 

Instantly, Nico’s mind started racing as he tried to remember what day it was - Wednesday, right? Will almost always worked on Wednesdays. Internally, he was slowly starting to panic, while externally he was scrunching up his nose and saying, “The ice cream place? Wouldn’t you rather just go to Screams?”

“I was gonna go there tomorrow anyway,” Hazel told him. “I wanted to get something for Frank. But this place is new! I just wanna check it out.” 

Nico took a deep breath. It would be fine. He wouldn’t flirt, and neither would Will, and Hazel would never know that anything was going on between them - because there wasn’t anything going on to begin with. “Alright, fine. We should probably stop in to say hi to Sally then, too.” 

He put on his blinker and started toward The Double Scoop.

When they arrived, Nico held the door open for Hazel to walk inside first, and he heard Will’s voice call out, “Hi, welcome to The Double Scoop!”  

Hazel smiled in response, then started making a slow lap around the store, checking out the dry goods on the shelves and the drinks in the coolers - things that Nico had never bothered to pay attention to when there was ice cream and Will. And speaking of…

Nico walked straight up to the register where Will was leaning against the counter. “Hey, Nico!” Will said, perking up as soon as he saw him. “What are you doing here? I mean, clearly it’s not for ice cream, since you know you have to order at the other counter.” 

“Can’t a guy visit an ice cream shop?” Nico asked, planting his hands on the counter and leaning in slightly.

Will hummed. “You’re visiting, but not getting ice cream? I don’t know, I’m not sure that’s allowed.” 

Nico rolled his eyes, but it was undermined by the smile that had grown on his face over the last few seconds. “Fine, you’ve worn me down. I’ll take a chocolate shake.” 

Will grinned. “Sorry, you know I can’t take orders at the register.” 

“It’s almost like you don’t want me to spend my money here,” Nico complained, still grinning as he wandered over to the ice cream counter. He caught Hazel shooting him a strange look as he moved, and she started toward him. When he reached the ice cream counter, he leaned his elbows against the top of the ice cream cooler and said, “There, is this better?” 

“Well, now I have to clean that, since you touched it,” Will called over from the sink where he’d started washing his hands.

Nico huffed and stepped back, crossing his arms over his chest. “There’s just no pleasing you, is there?” 

Will grinned. “No, there is.” He reached under the counter and grabbed a pair of plastic gloves, tugging them on as he said, “Welcome to The Double Scoop. What can I get for you?” 

“I’d like a chocolate shake, please,” Nico said, his voice saccharine sweet, “with whipped cream and a cherry.”

“That’ll be right out,” Will replied, and his eyes flickered away from Nico for the first time. “Hi! I’ll be right with you.” 

As Will started to make Nico’s shake, Nico turned to Hazel, who Will must have just spoken to, since they were the only ones in the store, and who was giving Nico a look somewhere between confusion and irritation. “Will, this is my sister, Hazel,” Nico called over to Will, throwing a thumb in Hazel’s direction. “She’s visiting from California. Hazel, this is Will.”

“Nice to meet you,” Hazel said with a polite smile in Will’s direction, though Nico could feel that he wasn’t off the hook.

“You two are siblings?” Will asked, gaze flickering between the two of them. “I never would’ve guessed! And I’d, uh, shake your hand, but--” He held up his gloved hands, an ice cream scoop in one hand and a stainless steel cup in the other. “You know, clean gloves and healthcode violations.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Hazel said, waving a hand dismissively. “And we get that all the time. We’re half-siblings.” 

“Same dad, different moms,” Nico added.

“That’s why his hair looks like that,” Hazel said, leaning in to whisper conspiratorially. “It’s the white in his genes that makes it so frizzy.” 

“Shut up,” Nico said, running a hand through his hair self-consciously.

“I think his hair looks nice,” Will said, and then drowned out any possible response by turning on the shake machine. Which was probably for the best, because Nico wouldn’t have been able to carry on a normal conversation after that, anyway.

After Nico paid for his shake and Hazel’s cone of birthday cake ice cream, they left the store and headed toward Sally’s. Nico was anxiously chewing on his straw, waiting for Hazel to finally say whatever she was going to say, though he wasn’t expecting it to be, “He’s cute.” 

Nico frowned, raising an eyebrow. “Aren’t you still with Frank?” 

“Aren’t you still with Leo?” she demanded, smacking him on the arm as they walked. “What the hell are you doing, flirting with another man?” 

“It’s fine!” Nico exclaimed, though he hunched his shoulders defensively. “It’s harmless. And… Leo knows... kind of.” 

“What does that mean, Leo kind of knows?” 

“We can talk about this later, if you want. With Leo. He’ll tell you that it’s nothing to worry about, okay?” Nico paused outside the door. “Please, Hazel, I don’t need Sally thinking there’s anything wrong and pestering me about it relentlessly. Can you just let it go for now?” 

Hazel hesitated, and then let out a puff of air. “Fine. I won’t say anything else. For now. But I’m not dropping this for good, I swear. You’re my brother, and Leo’s one of my best friends. If you ruin what you have with him by flirting with some pretty white boy, I’ll kill you.” 

Nico nodded. “Understood.” He pulled open the door to Sally’s and said, “After you.” 

Hazel kept her word and didn’t say anything in front of Sally. She didn’t even bring it up again on the drive back to Nico and Leo’s house. Nico was bracing himself as soon as Leo walked in the door, but Hazel simply ran over to Leo and dragged him into a hug. When Nico couldn’t take the suspense any longer, he announced, “I’m gonna get started on dinner. Do you want anything specific?” 

“I’m good with whatever,” Hazel told him, “as long as you still remember how to season your food.”

Nico paused, and looked back at her with a frown. “Of course I still remember how to season food. What are you talking about?” 

“Well, I don’t know,” she said innocently, “you’ve been flirting with white boys, so clearly your white is jumping out.” 

Leo turned to him with a look of hurt. “You’ve been flirting with white boys?”

“Just the one!” Nico answered defensively. 

“Wh--” Leo’s eyes widened with realization. “Oh. Sunshine again, huh? What’d he do this time?”

Hazel spun around, looking at Leo with shock in her eyes. “So you really did know about this?” 

“About his thing with Sunshine?” Leo asked, not waiting for a response as he answered, “Yeah, ‘course. He’s got Sunshine, and I’ve got Freckles. It’s a whole thing. Don’t worry about it.” 

“So, what, you two just flirt with other people and…” She looked between the two of them. “What? It’s just okay? You don’t get jealous, or worried, or...anything?” 

Leo shrugged. “We talk about it. As long as there’s no secrets, it’s not that big of a deal. And we both only have one other guy. See, I’ve been trying to get Nico to greenlight to another agreement, like the one we had with Jason, but--”

Nico started shaking his head furiously behind Hazel’s back, but that didn’t stop Leo fast enough. “What agreement with Jason?” Hazel asked.

Leo’s eyes widened. “Oh. You didn’t know? Well, it was less of an agreement with Jason and more of one about--”

Nico threw a throw pillow into Leo’s face. Leo pulled the pillow away and waved a hand dismissively. “You know what? It’s not important.” 

Leo had been supposed to take the next day off so that, while Nico was working, Hazel wouldn’t have to sit around by herself. Unfortunately, Leo had gotten so caught up with work, modifying the ice cream scoops for Screams, and then later catching up on sleep because of that, that he’d forgotten to put in for time off until it was too late.

Hazel insisted that she would be fine on her own, and that she was planning on walking to Screams that day anyway, so she shooed Nico and Leo out of the house before they were both late for work. She took some time to enjoy the quiet - it was hardly ever this quiet in the apartment she lived in with Frank - and only got up when she heard her phone buzzing against the kitchen table. 

She had a text from Leo. Heeeey, it said, can you bring me my phone charger when you come up this way?

There was a line of ‘pleading’ emojis, as well as a few sets of praying hands. Hazel shook her head, smiling fondly, and she went to get dressed. She didn’t waste any time gathering her things - plus Leo’s phone charger - before she left, starting on her walk down the street toward Screams. She figured she’d stop in the souvenir shop first, because surely Leo’s phone wouldn’t be dead already. And besides, he should be working anyway.

Hazel made her way into the store and was immediately greeted by Lou Ellen, who said, “Hello, welcome to-- Oh my god, Hazel?”

“Hi, Lou!” Hazel replied, stepping closer and pulling her into a hug. “I wasn’t expecting you to still be here, how are you?” 

Lou huffed and rolled her eyes. “Oh, you know, working my way through college is taking longer than expected. How are you? I was wondering when you were going to visit! I had no idea you were even in town!” 

“Yeah, it was a bit last minute,” Hazel told her. “But I’m good! I just stopped by to get something for my boyfriend.”

“Did you have anything in mind? I could totally help you look for something, if you wanted.” 

“That’s okay, I was just going to look around and see if--” As she spoke, the front door opened behind her, and Hazel realized that she was still standing in the middle of the doorway. “Oh, sorry! Excuse me.” She moved aside and lifted her gaze to find Will stepping inside.

“Hey,” he said, blinking at Hazel in surprise. “Uh, Hazel, right? What are you doing here?” 

“I could ask you the same question,” she replied with a kind smile. 

“Will works here,” Lou told Hazel. “I didn’t realize you two knew each other.”

“We met yesterday,” Hazel explained, and suddenly she felt her phone buzzing in her pocket. He reached down blindly to silence it as she continued, “Nico introduced us when he took me to get ice cream yesterday, before we went to say hi to--” Her phone buzzed again, and this time she let out a huff of frustration. “Sorry, excuse me.” She pulled out her phone and read the screen - a missed call from Leo, and a few texts from him that mainly consisted of various begging emojis. “Sorry, Leo asked me to bring him a phone charger earlier, and I thought I had time to shop first, but I guess not.” 

“You know Leo?” Will asked, and he got a look in his eyes similar to one he’d had the day before while looking at her brother.

Hazel filed that away for later. “I do, he’s a good friend. Anyway, I’m just going to run next door really quick before he loses his mind - I’ll be back in a minute.” 

She slipped out the door and started across the parking lot to Fire Hazard, where she found Leo waiting by the takeout counter. “Hazel!” he practically shrieked, drawing the attention of the few diners inside as he practically lunged at her. “Thank god, I thought you were never gonna get here! My baby’s almost dead!” He ripped the charger from her hand and dove behind the counter, frantically searching for a place to plug it in.

“Was it really so urgent?” Hazel asked with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow. “I was next door catching up with Lou and that new employee, Will.” 

“You met Will?” Leo asked, and suddenly it was like he’d forgotten all about his dying battery. He had the same kind of dopey smile on his face that Hazel remembered from the early days of his and Nico’s relationship. “He’s so hot, don’t you think?” 

Hazel marched forward just to smack him in the arm. “I think you’re still dating my brother, Valdez!” 

“Hey, hey!” Leo complained, holding his hands up to protect his face. “C’mon, we talked about this last night - Nico knows! It’s fine!” 

It took a few seconds for Leo’s words to really sink in, but once they did, Hazel could only roll her eyes. “Oh, you two are so stupid.” 

“Huh?” Leo asked. 

Hazel started backing toward the door. “I said, when I come back, you’re buying me lunch.” 

Hazel had treated Nico and Leo strangely about their “arrangement” up until the point where she was dropped off at the airport only a few days after her arrival. She never said anything outright, but Leo could tell she wasn’t pleased about the whole situation. Whatever. Leo knew he wasn’t going to cheat on Nico, and he had confidence that Nico would remain faithful as well. They had nothing to worry about.

Besides, Leo only ever saw Will for a few minutes maybe twice a week. He hardly knew anything about the guy, aside from the fact that he was hot as hell and worked two jobs that kept him so busy that he apparently only managed to eat vegetables whenever Leo cooked them for him. 

And speaking of cooking, Leo had been doing an awful lot of that lately without much of a break. He peeked out into the dining area to see that the place had started to slow down - not that he hadn’t been able to tell that by the decreasing amount of meal tickets coming into the kitchen. Now might be the perfect chance for him to get some fresh air before the dinner rush. 

He grabbed an order of breadsticks that had been sent back about an hour ago - it wasn’t his fault the customer hadn’t properly read the menu, so there wasn’t actually anything wrong with them - and called out that he was going to take ten, then he went outside. He planned on sitting at one of the tables on the porch and scrolling through his phone while he snacked, but once he was outside, he saw a familiar figure laying in the shade of the lone tree in front of the restaurant, and he changed his mind.

Leo hopped off the porch and started toward the tree, dropping down beside Will and saying, “Hey. Want a breadstick?”

Will blinked up at him for a moment before he broke out into a grin and sat up. “Hey. Thanks.” He took a breadstick from the box, but before taking a bite, he asked, “What are you doing out here?” 

“Just taking a break. You?” 

“Same,” Will responded. “I normally take my break in the back room, but I swear, the AC in there must be broken, because somehow it seems cooler out here.” 

Leo grinned. “Geez, first the scoop-well-things, and now the AC. Got anything else you need me to fix, while I’m at it?”

Will ducked his head, pulling apart his breadstick with his fingers. “You know, I don’t think I ever did thank you for fixing the scoops. Seriously, none of us are afraid to scoop anymore. Lou even stopped wearing her dish gloves!” He glanced at Leo out of the corner of his eye, then nudged him with his elbow. “So, I really appreciate it.” 

Leo felt like he might explode, starting at the part of his arm that made contact with Will’s elbow. So instead of letting that happen, he shrugged and brushed it off with, “It’s no big deal.” He shoved too much breadstick in his mouth to keep himself from saying anything else without thinking about it first. Then, once he’d finished chewing, he said, “How’s your hand, by the way?” 

Will grinned and held out his hand so fast that Leo felt the need to catch it in his own before it got away from both of them. For the few seconds before Will started speaking, Leo forgot what he was supposed to be looking at, and found himself distracted by the warmth of Will’s skin against his own. “I’m like, ninety-nine percent sure it was a second degree burn, but look! I think it’s finally all healed up. You can barely even see the scar.” He pointed to his own palm, tracing a line that easily could’ve been confused as one of the natural ridges. “See?” 

Leo reached out with his free hand and traced over the scar. Aside from that one point, Will’s hands were soft, especially in comparison to Leo’s. “Yeah, it looks great,” Leo told him, and when he lifted his gaze, he realized that they’d both drifted so very close to each other, and he forced himself to pull his hands away. He grabbed another breadstick, just so that he wouldn’t feel tempted to reach out for Will again. “So, uh. What makes you so sure it was second degree? I can’t imagine that you of all people managed to find time to go to a hospital, Mr. I don’t have time to cook vegetables.”

Will laughed. “Hey, I’m sure I could find the time for that, but why should I bother when I know that yours are always gonna be better?” Leo was pretty sure he turned cherry red in an instant, and ducked his head to hide his flush. He was suddenly so interested in the parmesan crumble on the breadsticks. “Anyway, I just finished up a pre-med program for undergrad. I’ve seen a lot of burns come and go at my school’s infirmary. You know, kids during midterms who’ve been studying so much that they forget that kettles are hot, or robotics kids who never really learned how to soddler.”

Leo felt his eyes widen in surprise. “Oh, are you gonna be a doctor, or something?” 

Will smiled at him, but something about it looked forced. “Or something. I haven’t decided what field yet - I’m leaning towards family medicine, but that’s a slippery slope into pediatrics, which I don’t want to do. I’m not... super great with kids, in my opinion. I can handle them just fine, but it’s not my first choice. I mean, I’ve been babysitting once a week for reasons I still can’t figure out, and it’s not swaying me towards pediatrics one bit.”

“You’re babysitting, too?” Leo asked. “On top of your two jobs? And you just finished undergrad.” 

Will nodded, and his face dropped. “You got it. Plus, I was supposed to be applying to medical schools for the last six months or so, but with all the stress of my final semester, and now with how busy I am with work… I can’t find the time. And I’m starting to get worried, because it’s probably too late now, which means I’ll have to stick around here for the school year and hope that taking a gap year doesn’t get counted against me in some way.” 

Leo hesitated to say, “I mean, would sticking around a little while longer really be that bad?” 

Will’s smile returned, more genuine than before. He met Leo’s eyes as he said, “No, not at all.” 

Leo cleared his throat and looked away again. “So, uh, what do you do in your very limited free time, if not apply to medical schools?” 

Will laughed. “Free time? Did you not hear me? Who even has free time nowadays?”

“I mean…” Leo shrugged. “I had enough time to modify those scoops for you, didn’t I?” 

“If I remember correctly, you looked like you had pulled a few all-nighters in order to get those done, so I don’t think that counts as free time.” 

“Hey, it was only two all-nighters,” Leo argued with a grin that matched Will’s, “and that’s an outlier.” 

“Well, c’mon, then,” Will said, “when you’re not here, what are you doing all the time?” 

“Honestly?” Leo shrugged again. “I go home and cook some more - sometimes I just bring food from here because it’s easier, and then I don’t have to clean this kitchen and the one at home. Sometimes I watch TV, sometimes I can find the time to tinker around a little bit. Make new stuff or mess around with other projects - like the scoops.” He could feel himself starting to pick up speed as he dove into talking about his projects. “I mean, I’ve been working on this one robot - I’ve been trying to get it to fold clothes and stuff, mainly towels for now, until I can get a few more complex commands working, but--”

He cut himself off, glancing up at Will and surprised to see that his eyes hadn’t glazed over. “Uh, sorry, you probably don’t want to hear about all that.” 

“No, I do!” Will insisted. “That sounds cool! But, uh--” He slipped his phone out of his pocket and showed a timer counting down on the screen. “Looks like I only have five more minutes until my break ends. So. Until my alarm goes off, I’d love to hear about your robots.” 

Leo felt something in his chest swell. Outside of his high school’s robotics club, nobody aside from Nico and a few of his closest friends had ever wanted to hear him talk more about his robots. Suddenly, Leo was almost at a loss for words. The only thing he could think to say was, you should come over sometime and see them for yourself, but that would’ve been crossing a line, right?

“So, can it actually fold towels?” Will asked, when Leo only blinked at him.

Leo grinned. “Not even close. But we’re getting there!” 

Will felt like an absolute idiot.

There was nothing he could’ve done - he hadn’t known there was a problem when he parked his car outside The Double Scoop, and he didn’t find out until he was the only one left in the parking lot. Of course this had to happen when Will was closing the store all by himself for the first time. 

His car wouldn’t start. He hadn’t left the headlights on, but no matter how many times he tried, the engine wouldn’t turn over. And the worst part of it all was that his phone didn’t have service - he couldn’t even call for help.  

Will was tempted to drop down onto the sidewalk and cry, then maybe flag down any cars that happened to drive by. Then, before Will could totally break down, he remembered: The Double Scoop wasn’t the only business on that street. If he was lucky, someone else would’ve gotten the short end of the stick, stuck with the closing cleaning shift. If he was really lucky…

He ran towards Sally’s, spotting a single car parked along the side of the building before he started pounding on the locked front door. 

“We’re closed!” Nico shouted from inside.

“Nico!” Will yelled back, so relieved he could almost cry. He tried to peek through one of the windows in the door, but each of them were covered up by different fliers and notices, all taped to the glass from the inside. After a second, though, Will heard the lock turn in the door, and then he saw Nico’s beautiful face frowning at him in confusion.

“Will?” he said. “What are you doing here? Isn’t The Double Scoop closed by now?” 

Will nodded frantically. “It is, yeah - I had to close by myself tonight, but now my car won’t start. And I don’t have any service out here, and I was really hoping that either you could help me, or I could borrow a phone to call for help.” 

Nico seemed to take a second to process Will’s mile-a-minute speech, then he opened the door wider for Will to step inside. “C’mon. I just need to finish counting the drawer, and then we can try jumping your car.” 

“Thank you,” Will told him, almost wishing that he could tackle Nico in a hug right that second. Instead, he stepped inside and allowed Nico to lock the door behind him, and Will sagged against it. “Seriously, is there anything I can do to help you close? Like, as a thank you?” 

“Hey, all I’ve done so far is let you inside so the bugs don’t carry you away,” Nico said as he walked back behind the counter and popped open the register. “There’s no need to thank me yet. Just stand there and look pretty; I’ll be done in a few minutes.” 

Will found himself grinning, and that grin only grew when he saw Nico’s cheeks darken before he ducked his head. 

Just as Nico had said, he was finished in only a few minutes, and insisted on driving Will back to his car, even if it was just next door. Will got out to pop the hood of his own car while Nico dug around in his trunk for jumper cables, and Will held up his phone as a flashlight while Nico attached the cables to each car’s battery. 

After running Nico’s car for about five minutes, he told Will to try the ignition, but still, the car only gave a weak protest before giving in. 

“Okay, um,” Nico said, scratching at the back of his neck and glancing between the two cars. “So, that’s really the only thing that I know how to do. Well, and change a tire, but I don’t think that’s your problem here, either.” 

“Oh, god,” Will moaned, finally collapsing onto the sidewalk and burying his face in his hands. “What am I supposed to do? I can’t afford to pay somebody to fix this, or even to get a tow truck! I mean, if I was at my other job, I’d at least be close enough to walk home without any big problems, but from here-- And what if there’s an emergency? What if my mama needs the car? What if--” 

“Woah, hey,” Nico cut in suddenly, dropping to his knees in front of Will and grabbing a hold of his face. “Take a deep breath, Sunshine, it’s all gonna be okay. I’ll drive you home, and I’ll help you figure something out when the sun is up, okay?” With the distant street light reflecting in them, Nico’s eyes looked so beautiful, and with the glow of his car’s headlights behind him, Nico looked something like an angel. If Nico hadn’t just brought Will back into his right mind, he might’ve tried to lean forward for a kiss.

Will took a few shaky breaths before nodding his head. Just as Nico’s hands started to slip away from his cheeks, he reached out for one and said, “Did you...call me Sunshine?”

“What?” Nico said, too quickly. “I said, when the sun is up. C’mon, help me put the jumper cables away so I can take you home. Where do you live?” 

“Do you know where I Scream, You Scream is?” 

Nico grinned. “You mean Screams? You’ve worked there for how long, and you still call it by its real name?” 

Once everything was back in order and Will had retrieved everything he needed from the backseat of his car, he climbed into the passenger’s seat of Nico’s car. Nico was waiting for him behind the steering wheel, his phone in his hand, seemingly checking his notifications. “Shit,” he whispered to himself before dropping his phone into the cup holders between them and putting the car in gear. 

“Everything okay?” Will asked as he hugged his backpack to his chest.

“Yeah, yeah, I just have to--” He cleared his throat awkwardly, keeping his eyes pointedly on the road as he said, “I have to pick my, uh, boyfriend up from work. But don’t worry, it’s not out of the way.” 

“Oh.” Will felt like his heart was crumbling to dust inside his chest. It wasn’t like he ever did much more than harmlessly flirt with Nico, but he really liked him. But clearly he’d liked Nico more than Nico liked him - if he was seeing somebody, then the flirting must have all been in Will’s head. Hopefully this new knowledge of a boyfriend wouldn’t make Will feel awkward around Nico now, and they could at least remain...were they even really friends?

Nico reached out and set a hand on Will’s arm, giving it a comforting squeeze. “Hey, it’s gonna be alright - we’ll figure it out tomorrow, okay? Here--” He let go of Will’s arm to reach for his phone, holding it out for Will to take. “Put your number in, and in the morning, we can figure out a plan. If you need help paying for a tow truck, or anything, just let me know. Okay?” 

“Yeah, sure,” Will said, defeated. He lit up the screen, his eyes catching on a few unread texts from somebody named Firecracker. Will didn’t mean to read any of the messages, but his eyes caught on the first one: u almost here, babe?

He unlocked the phone with more force than necessary, and put himself in as a new contact. He dropped the phone back into the cup holder just as Nico pulled into a parking space right outside of Fire Hazard.  

Will frowned. “Your, uh, boyfriend works here?”

Nico picked up his phone with a grin. As he started to type out what was no doubt an I’m here text, he said, “Yeah, Leo’s one of the cooks. He’s actually pretty handy with machines and stuff, too, so maybe he can take a look at your car for you.” 

“Oh,” Will said again, and suddenly he felt like he was going to be sick. He looked up at the doors to the restaurant and saw Leo, his Leo, stepping out, then turning back to lock the door from the outside. “Oh. Um. You know what? Thank you so much for the lift, but I think I’ll be fine walking from here.” 

He scrambled to unhook his seatbelt, and practically threw open the car door as Nico called after him, “Will, hang on--!” 

Will shut the door and came face to face with Leo, who grinned up at him as soon as he recognized him. “Will! Hey, what are you doing here? You didn’t work today, did you?” 

Will’s feet were frozen to the ground. He needed to run, why couldn’t he just run away?

“Oh, uh, do you and Nico...know each other?” Leo asked, and his eyes started to widen, like he knew that Will had been flirting with his boyfriend for the better part of the summer. Will’s feet finally unstuck from the gravel, and he took off across the parking lot, through a small field that would lead him onto the road he lived on.

Leo ripped open the passenger’s side door and cried, “Why was my hot blond in your car?” 

“Your hot blond?” Nico demanded. “That’s my hot blond! And he’s gonna get himself hit by a car, or something. Get in!” 

Leo jumped in, and barely had the door shut behind him before Nico was whipping out of the parking lot. He had to obey the roads, unlike Will, meaning that Will got a bit of a head start, but Nico’s jeep didn’t get tired out the same way a human did.

Leo rolled down his window once they managed to catch up to Will, driving alongside him. “Will!” he called out, and even in the dark, he could see the way that Will flinched.

Nico leaned around Leo and said, “Will, please get back in the car. It’s too dark for you to be walking around - you’re gonna get yourself killed!”

Will ignored them both, and kept on walking.

“Will,” Leo tried again, “please.”

A few more steps, and Will stopped. Nico had to practically slam on the brakes so as to not leave Will in their dust. “Okay,” Leo heard Will say softly, and then the door was being pulled open from the outside. Leo made a split second decision to climb over the center console into the back seat to make room for Will, just to make things a little less awkward, though it probably wasn’t great that he’d basically shoved his ass in Will’s face for a few seconds before he got situated. 

The ride was silent for about thirty seconds before Nico said softly, “Uh, I’m gonna need to know which one is yours.” 

“Just after the curve,” Will said, his voice monotone, like he’d been broken from the inside out, “with the yellow mailbox.” 

Nico pulled into the driveway slowly. “So, I’ll text you in the morning--” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Will cut in. “I’ve already...messed things up enough.” As soon as the car stopped, Will threw open the door again. “Thank you,” he said, unable to lift his gaze from his shoes even as he climbed out of the car, “and… I’m sorry.” 

Nico waited, making sure that Will got into the house before he started to pull back out onto the road. Leo leaned up from between the seats. “So…” 

Nico sighed. “We have a lot to talk about.” 

“You’re right,” Leo replied. “Like, how we have the same type.” 

Nico shoved him back against the seat with a laugh and a, “Put your seatbelt on.” 

Will barely slept that night, between telling his mama everything that had happened and the anxiety he felt about how he was going to get back to his car in the morning - not to mention that he was going to have to face Nico and Leo again.

He felt like such an idiot. Not just for the way he’d behaved around the two of them the night before, but for not realizing sooner. Sure, neither of them had ever really so much as hinted at having a partner, but now Will knew that he’d spent the last two months flirting with not one, but two taken men. It had probably all been entirely one-sided, too! At that point, he almost hoped it was one-sided, because he couldn’t live with himself if it turned out he was a homewrecker.

He decided, as he laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling sometime during the middle of the night, that he would have to apologize. For the way he’d acted, and for all of the flirting. He’d probably have to step away from any interactions with the two of them for as long as he was around, just to keep things from being awkward - that meant no more running to Fire Hazard for dinner trades on weekends, and no more asking for favors from Sally’s. Actually, maybe that second one was for the best - Nico had really been the only reason Will enjoyed going to work there to begin with, so maybe this was the push he needed to quit.

In the morning, after Will had slept for maybe two hours at most, he saw a text from an unknown number, letting him know that Nico and Leo were both awake, and they could take Will to check out his car any time. Will fought the urge to crawl under his blankets and hide for the rest of the day - he had a shift at I Scream, You Scream that afternoon anyway - and he texted back, I’m ready when you are.

Will waited for them out on the porch, and as soon as he saw Nico’s jeep pull into the driveway, he was on his feet. He hesitated to move toward the car, but once Nico rolled his window down to ask what he was waiting for, the words came tumbling out of him.

“I’m sorry,” he blurted from where he stood in the center of the driveway. “For uh, for trying to ditch you last night, and for the way I’ve been talking to you both. How I’ve been treating you, I mean. Um. No, I meant… How I’ve been--” 

“Flirting?” Leo filled in, and Will thought he might burn up from the embarrassment. 

“You’re apologizing,” Nico said, “for flirting.”

“Yes,” Will answered. “I didn’t know-- I mean, obviously I didn’t know that either of you were seeing anybody, let alone each other, or else I never would have… Uh, done. What I did.” 

“Flirted,” Leo corrected, the corner of his lips twitching up into something of a teasing grin, “with both of us.” Looking at the other man, Will was afraid he might get ridiculed - as if he didn’t already feel bad enough - but then Leo was laughing lightly and saying, “Freckles, just get in the car already.” 

Will tensed. “Huh?” 

Nico tapped the fingers of one hand against the steering wheel. “You don’t have anything to apologize for. If you had ever crossed a line, we would’ve said something. And besides, we both...kind of already knew.”

“You what?” Will asked, lurching forward a step as if being just a foot closer would help him to hear whatever Nico had really said. “You knew?”

“Not knew knew,” Nico told him, and winced. “Look, I’ll explain everything, okay? Just...please get in the car.” 

Will paused, but once he saw Leo climbing over the center console into the back seat, he forced himself into motion. He sat down in the passenger’s seat, hands folded neatly in his lap, and kept his head pointed down as they started to move. 

Nico nudged him with his elbow, glancing at him out of the corner of his eye before looking back to the road. “Hey,” he said softly, “you’ve got nothing to worry about, Sunshine.”

“You know,” Leo said, suddenly appearing over Will’s shoulder as he leaned against the back of Will’s seat, “if you’re nervous about your car, don’t be. I’m actually the best mechanic in town, it’s just that no auto shops would hire me because I’m a danger to everyone’s wellbeing, or something like that.”

Nico reached back and shoved Leo away. “How many times have I told you to put on a seatbelt?” He looked to Will and rolled his eyes, smiling fondly. “He’s a danger to himself, is what he is. But seriously, you have nothing to worry about. He really is the best.” 

Will really did have nothing to worry about. Within minutes of popping the hood on Will’s car, Leo had the problem all sorted out - something about a belt coming undone, or falling out of place. Something that went straight over Will’s head, but that didn’t matter. What did matter was the way that Leo grinned at him once he got the car running, the cocky look on his face as he said, “How’s that?” 

Will couldn’t move from where he sat beside Nico on the curb - where Will had been carefully pretending that he wasn’t staring at Leo’s ass while he leaned over the engine, and where Nico had been doing so very blatantly - though he did manage to smile back and say, “I could literally kiss you right now.” 

Leo’s grin brightened, but Will only got to see it for a second before he quickly averted his gaze. “Except that would be weird,” Will hurried to say, scratching at the back of his neck, “because you two are together, and-- And not with me, so I definitely won’t do that. Uh, sorry.” 

“Well, hey,” Leo said plainly, and Will cautiously lifted his gaze to see Leo stepping closer with his hands stuffed into his pants pockets, “if that’s how you wanna show your gratitude--”

Nico jumped to his feet and placed a hand on Leo’s chest, holding him back. “Leo,” Nico said warningly.

“Actually, about that--” Will said, cutting himself off and flushing when he saw Leo perk up. “Uh. I just meant, um. You never did explain what you meant by knowing about...me.” 

“Oh, right,” Nico muttered, and returned to his seat on the curb. He twisted to face Will, hugging one knee to his chest. “Well, so. A couple months ago, I met this guy while I was at work, and when I got home, I told Leo all about him. Then, sometime later, Leo came home, and he started talking about this guy he had met. We both kept telling each other about how… How nice, and attractive, and--” 

“We both fell a little bit in love with the guy who scooped us ice cream,” Leo cut in as he leaned against the closed hood of Will’s car, “we just never put it together that it was the same guy - that you were his Sunshine and my Freckles.” 

Will’s breath caught in his throat. “You’re--” He blinked. “You love--”

“Okay, that might be a little extreme,” Nico cut in, holding his leg tighter and averting his gaze. “But...we really have been talking about you non-stop for... months now. Neither of us had any intention of acting on anything, because, you know, we’re in a relationship--” 

“Speak for yourself, babe,” Leo said with a wink.

“--but last night,” Nico continued, raising his voice and shooting Leo a glare, “we had a really long talk about...about you. About how much we both like you - more than we’d ever talked about it before. And… And I know you might not feel exactly the same way, but we thought… I mean, it doesn't hurt to ask…”

“Babe, if you don’t spit it out soon, you’re gonna miss your chance to ask,” Leo told him.

Nico took a deep breath. He straightened his spine but kept his gaze firmly locked on the sidewalk between himself and Will. “Do you want to go on a date with us?”

Will blinked.

And blinked again.

Leo was smiling at him, though his lips twitched with nerves.

Nico still wasn’t looking at him.

“Yeah,” Will breathed, and Nico’s head snapped up. 

“What?” 

Leo dropped to his knees and crawled closer. “Wait, I didn’t hear!” He shoved at Nico’s leg. “What did he say?” 

Will felt himself starting to smile. Then, he was laughing, lightly, and then almost uncontrollably. “Yes. I said yes.”

“Really?” Leo asked, and then Will was being knocked backwards by Leo on one side and Nico on the other. The concrete wasn’t a comfortable place to lay, but Will was too happy to notice.

Will felt like he was boiling alive in a pool of his own sweat. That’s usually how he woke up whenever he spent the night with Nico and Leo - at least it was whenever he fell asleep in the middle. Being in the middle meant both of his boyfriends cuddling up to him on either side for the entire night and trapping him under the blanket. Will much preferred being on the outskirts, but then again, that meant he would only wake up next to one boyfriend instead of two. It was an impossible choice to make.

Even waking up with a minor case of heat stroke, Will couldn’t be happier that his boyfriends were the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes. Leo was half sprawled on top of him, using his chest as a pillow, and Nico laid with his back pressed to Will’s side, clinging to Will’s arm like a koala would to a tree. It was then that Will realized that, not only was he burning up, but he was totally immobile. Unless he wanted to wake one of his boyfriends up by moving, but he could never be so cruel. 

They didn’t have any plans for the day, so realistically, Nico and Leo could sleep however long they wanted. Will didn’t have to work - which felt like a miracle on its own - so it wasn’t like they were holding him back from doing anything important.

Well, except that he did kind of have to pee.

He could hold it a little bit longer. Besides, how much later could the two of them sleep?

After what had to be an hour at least, Will had lost his patience. He started shifting his legs carefully to hopefully free them from their tangle with Leo’s and Nico’s. He felt Nico’s grip on his arm tighten, and he immediately froze. Nico continued to shift, fully releasing Will’s arm before flipping over to curl up against Will’s chest. Will felt himself huff at the realization that his job had just become a whole lot more difficult, until he felt the sharp point of Nico’s chin digging into his chest. 

Will lifted his head and met Nico’s squinty eyes in the dark. “Good morning,” Will whispered, feeling himself start to smile. “I gotta get up.” 

Nico dropped his head again and hummed a, Nuh-uh.  

Will stroked a hand up and down Nico’s back. “Darling, trust me when I say that you really wanna let me up.” 

Nico threw himself back dramatically, nearly pinning Will’s arm underneath him - though thankfully Will had been awake long enough that his reflexes were fully online - and he quietly groaned, “Ugh, fine.”  

“Can you help me with Leo, too?” Will asked.

“Just shove him,” Nico replied, propping himself up on an elbow so that he could reach across Will’s chest and give Leo’s shoulder a heavy push. Leo flopped onto his back, releasing Will’s arm and leg, and he started to snore softly. “He’s a heavy sleeper.”

“Thanks,” Will whispered. He rolled himself on top of Nico, pinning the other down for just as long as it took to press a kiss to his forehead before Will rolled the rest of the way off the bed. He headed to the door and set a hand on the knob, then looked back over his shoulder to see that Nico had claimed Will’s vacated spot, and was cuddling up to Leo instead.

Will shut the door quietly behind himself when he left. He went to the bathroom, and on his way back he switched on the coffee maker, hoping that the smell of it brewing might be enough to pull his boyfriends out of bed. 

He crept back into the bedroom, slipping into bed beside Nico and draping an arm over him, resting his palm on Leo’s hip. 

“Mm,” Leo hummed, lifting his head from his pillow and blinking slowly at Will over Nico’s head. “Coffee?” 

“No,” Will replied, a wide grin breaking out across his face, “I’m Will.” 

Nico elbowed him in the stomach, and Will recoiled with a groan.

“I smell coffee,” Leo said, and rather than rolling off his side of the bed, he chose the path of most resistance and climbed over both Nico and Will to make a straight shot for the door.

“Sorry,” Nico said as he rolled over to face Will, “I didn’t mean to hit you so hard.” 

“It’s fine,” Will told him, flopping onto his back and rubbing at the point of contact. “I think I’ll survive.” 

“Are you sure?” Nico propped himself up on his elbows and leaned over Will, pouting down at him. “Do you need it kissed better?” 

Will shrugged, and looked up at Nico through his eyelashes. “Maybe.” 

“Okay,” Nico said as he threw the blanket off of himself. “I’ll get Leo right on that.” He crawled over Will and walked out of the room.

“Rude!” Will called after him before he got to his feet and followed. He found Leo next to the coffee pot, leaning against the counter with a mug cradled in his hands. Will stepped toward him, tempted to steal a sip of his coffee until Leo tipped his chin up, silently asking for a kiss. Will obliged, and decided that the coffee he tasted on Leo’s lips was enough to tide him over until he got his own cup. “Good morning, Firebug.” 

“Mornin’,” Leo replied with a sleepy smile.

Will went to Nico next, waiting until after he’d set down the now-empty coffee pot to pull him in for a kiss. “Good morning, Sunshine,” Nico told him as he passed over one of the two cups of coffee that were sitting on the counter. 

“What do you want for breakfast?” Will asked. “Anything you want, I’ll make it.” 

Nico shared a look with Leo.

“What?” Will said. “C’mon, I can make...eggs.” 

Nico took a sip of his coffee without making eye contact, and when Will glanced over at Leo, he was doing the same. 

“Oh, come on, I can cook!”

“Sunshine, you are very good at many things,” Nico told him, reaching out and setting a hand on his arm. “You cannot cook.” 

Will pouted.

“Besides,” Nico continued, “I was gonna make pancakes anyway. With bananas in them, just how you like them.” 

Will stepped aside, moving lean against the counter beside Leo with their shoulders pressed together as they watched Nico work. Once Will finished his cup, he set it in the sink, then stepped behind Nico. He wrapped his arms around him and pressed a kiss to the side of his head as he watched Nico pour batter into the pan.

He felt a pair of arms slip around his waist, and then Leo’s face was pressing between his shoulder blades. “Oh, this is nice,” Leo muttered, rubbing his cheek against Will’s back. “I get why Nico does this to me, now.” 

Will chuckled, and covered Leo’s hand with one of his own. “You wanna sit with me on the couch until Nico has our breakfast done?” 

“Ooh, hell yeah!” Leo dragged him away and into the living room, practically knocking Will over onto the couch before climbing on top of him. Leo laid across Will’s chest, settling in like he was getting ready to fall back asleep, so Will let himself get comfortable. 

It was the first time in over a month that the three of them all had a full day off at the same time. Sure, the end of summer meant that they all had a few more free hours in the day, but ever since Will had quit his job at The Double Scoop, they’d all had more chances at days off to spend together. And, of course, Will had more time to research and apply for medical schools - though his radius for schools of choice had suddenly gotten a lot smaller over the last few months. 

Will had just started stroking a hand up and down Leo’s back when Nico came into the room with a plate of pancakes for himself. He somehow managed to hop up onto the couch with them - on top of Leo, which only succeeded in making Will feel like he was being crushed - and he started to eat.

“Hey,” Leo complained, “where’s our food?”

“In the kitchen,” Nico replied, “go get it yourself.”

“I can’t move!”  

Will had spent most of the day being used as a pillow, not that he minded. With breakfast, they had watched a movie, and afterwards they’d started bingeing some TV show. Leo had somehow managed to get comfortable with most of his upper body in Will’s lap, while Nico was stretched out on top of him with his head tucked under Leo’s chin. 

“I need snacks,” Nico said suddenly, halfway through an episode.

“Ooh, me too,” Leo agreed, and he tipped his head back to look at Will. “Freckles, will you get us some snacks? I’m in the mood for chips.” 

“I’m practically underneath both of you,” Will reminded them. “Why doesn’t Nico get up?” 

“I’m starved to death,” Nico replied casually. “I couldn’t move if I tried.” 

Leo pouted up at Will. “Babe, please, he’s dying from starvation over here.” 

Will rolled his eyes overdramatically. “Alright, fine. If only so that Nico doesn’t die, I guess.” 

“You’re too kind,” he muttered into Leo’s chest.

Will wrestled his way out from underneath Leo and started toward the kitchen. Usually, any snack food Nico and Leo had was kept on top of the fridge, which was high enough that they wouldn’t look for it right away, but low enough that they could reach it if that’s what they were looking for. Will had started bringing over his own snack food, sometimes leaving it behind either accidentally or on purpose, though he always came back to find that it had all been eaten. Then, he started bringing snacks that only he liked - salt and vinegar chips, or oatmeal cookies - in the hopes that they wouldn’t get eaten, and then for extra security, he started hiding them in one of the unused upper cabinets in the kitchen. One that only he was tall enough to reach. 

Will searched the kitchen for snacks, looking everywhere except for in his own secret stash, though he couldn’t find anything. He popped his head around the corner into the living room so that he wouldn’t have to shout - though before he could open his mouth, Will paused at the sight of his boyfriends together on the couch. Leo was staring at Nico with so much fondness in his eyes as Nico, with his chin propped up on Leo’s chest, whispered something to him.

Sometimes, Will couldn’t help but feel like he was on the outside looking in. Nico and Leo had been together long before Will entered the picture, and while he knew deep down that he was just as important in their relationship as Nico and Leo were, he couldn’t help sometimes feeling...out of place. Nico and Leo looked so happy together, just the two of them. What business did he have butting his way in?

Then, Leo lifted his gaze, and his eyes landed on Will. That fondness in his eyes didn’t go away - if anything, it grew. He smiled brightly at Will, like he was excited to see him again even though Will had only been gone for a minute or two at most. Nico glanced over his shoulder, then smiled at Will as he started to sit up. “What’s up, Sunshine?” Nico asked, and Will felt himself be pulled back in from the sidelines.

“I can’t find any chips,” he answered. 

Nico pushed himself to his feet, a look of determination on his face that Will recognized as his I’m right and we both know it face. It was one that came out during every disagreement, no matter how big or small, and often surfaced whenever Leo claimed he couldn’t find something in the pantry. Also around customers who acted like Nico didn’t know Sally’s like the back of his hand.

Will made sure to stay out of his way while Nico marched straight into the kitchen, grabbed a chair from the little table in the corner - which now had three mismatched chairs instead of two - and carried it toward Will’s secret snack cabinet. Nico climbed up onto the chair and opened the cabinet door as Will gasped. He ran over and wrapped his arms around Nico’s waist, pulling him back from the cabinet and holding him about half a foot off the ground as he demanded, “You’ve been eating my secret snacks?” 

“You thought they were secret?” Nico asked.

“Why were you hiding food in our house?” Leo called out.

Nico wiggled in Will’s hold until he was forced to set him down, and as soon as his feet touched the ground, Nico spun around to face him. “You’re the only one here that can reach high shelves. Of course I knew you were hiding things up there.” He lowered his voice to add, “I found Leo’s Christmas present up there last week.” 

Will spluttered. “You don’t even like the snacks that I buy!” 

Nico crossed his arms and looked away, as if he was embarrassed to say, “You rubbed off on me.” 

From the living room, Leo shouted, “Hell yeah, he did!” 

It was early evening and sometime around the end of the first season of whatever show they were watching when Will’s phone buzzed on the coffee table. He was laying across the couch for a change, his head pillowed on Leo’s lap while Leo played with his curls. His legs were thrown over Nico’s lap, though Nico had managed to twist around so that his head laid on Will’s stomach.

Will reached out for his phone and read the new text before saying, “Hey, Mama wants to know if y’all wanna come over for dinner.” 

Nico hummed. “Well, on the one hand, I don’t have to cook. But, on the other hand, I was looking forward to not getting dressed today.” 

Will ran his free hand through Nico’s hair. “So don’t get dressed. She won’t care if you’re in your pajamas.” 

“Babe,” Leo said, “I’m not wearing boxers to your mama’s house.” 

Will tipped his head back to meet Leo’s eyes. “Oh, no. You have to get dressed. Just Nico doesn’t have to.” 

“Sorry, babe,” Nico told him, “Naomi just likes me better.” 

“Hey, now,” Will argued, “she likes you both equally. She probably likes y’all as much as she likes me, at this point.” 

“Aw, as much as she likes you,” Leo repeated, patting Will on the cheek. “That’s cute, Freckles. But she definitely likes us better by now.” 

“She’s my mama!” 

“And I fixed her car, free of charge,” Leo reminded him. “Not to mention that I changed the oil in it, and replaced a flat tire.”

“Don’t forget that you fixed her washing machine, too,” Nico added.

“Not you, too,” Will groaned.

“Me?” Nico asked innocently. “All I ever did was ask her only son on a date, and invite him to sleep over almost every night so she finally has the house to herself. Maybe, with you here, she’s been able to invite Latricia over to--” 

“Nope!” Will cut in. “I love my mama, and I adore Latricia, but I do not like the direction you’re taking this.” 

“Ooh, do you think Latricia will be there?” Leo asked. “I hope so, and I hope she makes peach cobbler again.” 

“Well, now we have to go,” Nico decided, already sitting up and shoving Will’s legs off his lap. “I’m gonna go get dressed.” 

As he left the room, Leo cried out, “Oh no, I didn’t think this through! Will, he’s putting on clothes. You have to stop him!” 

Will turned over onto his stomach and held himself up close to Leo’s face. “Alright, Firebug, here’s the deal. If you go put some clothes on right now, I’ll wear whatever you want me to wear when we get back here tonight.” 

Leo’s eyes widened. “Even nothing?” 

Will grinned, barely containing his laughter. “Yeah, that’s what I meant.” 

Leo practically shoved Will away in his effort to jump off the couch. He ran toward the bedroom, calling out, “Nico! Will wants to have sex tonight!” 

“Okay?” Nico called back, confusion clear in his voice. “So, does that mean we’re not going to Naomi’s for dinner?”

Will fell back on the couch, letting his laughter overtake him.