Archive of Our Own ^beta

Nico opened his eyes and, honestly, wasn’t sure why he wasn’t dead. 

A headache pounded at his temples, worsening as he looked around the sunlight-filled room. He was in a strange hotel room. The sheets were thrown across every surface except the mattress, clothes were littered across the carpet and, from what Nico could see from blearily-squinting across the room, there was an Elvis cardboard cut-out on the balcony. 

He sat up. 

He was in his boxers and white button-up, the only remaining part of the suit he vaguely remembered donning yesterday morning. Other than that, he was currently covered in flakey glitter, some blue liquid that slightly dyed his skin and completely ruined his shirt, as well as something sticky down his neck that he absolutely, completely did not want to think about. 

Wherever he was, whatever time it was, the noise from the busy streets below blared as if it was just outside the door, not several floors away as the skyline view suggested. Nico sighed.

Water, first. He’d have to drink a gallon of it, he decided as he rolled off the bed and crawled toward the bathroom, before he started feeling like an actual functioning person of society. Then Aspirin, please gods, then some coffee —

He hit his head on the bathroom door and cursed, stumbling back from where he'd been climbing to his knees to try and stand. He stared ahead, wide-eyed. 

There was a man in his bathtub. 

There was a man in his bathtub. 

Nico stood, unsteady at first. He grabbed onto the door frame. Is he dead? 

Nico peered down at him, cautious. The man’s chest rose then fell. Nico let out a noise of relief. 

However, with the movement he was doing, his stomach was… decidedly unhappy. His stomach lurched forward and, thankfully, so did he , straight into the toilet. He retched — thankfully there didn’t seem to be much to throw up — and swallowed until his gag reflex calmed down. 

Behind him, the man groaned, opened his eyes, and squinted as Nico spat in the toilet and flushed it. Nico wiped his mouth and met the other man’s gaze.

“Oh, you’re awake, perfect.” Nico cleared the roughness and ache from his throat. Gods, he’d kill for some water right now. “I have a few questions.” Somehow, he managed to keep his voice perfectly even from where he was curled on the ground. “Who the fuck are you, where the fuck are we, where the fuck are my friends, and -” Nico held out his left hand, suddenly finding a curve of metal there, “-what the fuck is this?” 

“Uh,” The man looked surprised, nauseous, and vaguely familiar. “I’m Will,” he said, and his eyes flickered to Nico’s outstretched hand. “And that’s my class ring,” Will said, a bit dumbly.

“How did you get it?” He swallowed. “Why are you wearing it?  

Nico let out a hysterical laugh and stared down at his hand. It was the left hand, right? Or maybe it was the right hand? Maybe Nico just stole the other man’s ring and tried it on? And forgot to give it back? 

Will shook his head, staring down at the ring. “Are we…” He cleared his throat. “Okay. Did we get married last night?” 

Nico opened his mouth but had no answer. A glint of silver on the floor, about a foot from Will’s sprawl in the bathtub, caught his eye. 

“Oh,” Nico bent down to pick it up off the tile. “It… must have fallen off.” 

“What is it?” Will asked, his face green. 

Nico held the silver ring up to the light. “Well. It looks like a wedding ring.” He tossed it in the air, caught it, and kicked the small trash can in Will’s direction. “I guess that confirms it. Congratulations, you’re the new Mr. Nico di Angelo.” 

“Oh, perfect,” Will said, right before he threw up into the trash can. 

Nico, a perfect gentleman, grimaced and patted Will on the back. “Yeah, me too.” 

He saw a pair of disposable cups wrapped in crinkly plastic positioned by the sink. He grabbed them, tore the plastic off both, and turned toward the sink. 

He stared at the sink for a long moment, Will still heaving into the can behind him. Nico sighed, ran a hand over his face, and turned back to the other man and asked, as politely as he could manage, “Will, dear, why is there blue Gatorade and Swedish Fish in the sink?” 

Will blinked at him, looking overwhelmed. “I… wanted to make an aquarium.” A wave of nausea came over his face and he dipped back into the trash can. “It was so beautiful in my mind.” 

Nico covered his eyes with a hand. “How fucking drunk were we last night?” 

“We got married ,” Will’s voice echoed inside of the trash can as an exclamation point. “Why are you asking that?” 

He shook his head in disbelief and, for lack of better options, tapped down the sink stopper to let the Gatorade drain. Mushy red candy fish remained scattered across the porcelain. It looked almost like a crime scene. 

He hurriedly downed a few cups of water — gods, it was like heavenly nectar for his dry throat and the headache behind his eyes — and splashed some on his face and neck. 

“Okay,” Nico placed the plastic cup of water on the tub’s rim, near Will’s elbow. “Drink up before you start to suffer even more.” 

“I haven’t gotten drunk since college,” Will paused to dry heave into the can. “I’m kind of out of practice with the whole hangover thing.” 

Nico patted him on the back one more time then shuffled out to give Will some space as he began to finally crawl out of the tub. 

If Nico was in the position where he felt like he needed to lay across the bathroom tile for a while, he personally would appreciate some privacy. 

Nico let the bathroom door click shut after him and took stock of the room. Messy, he had already observed this earlier, but littered with odds and ends of the night before. The remnants of room service, two plates, mostly just picked over, were stacked on the coffee table along with a few empty water bottles. His bag, he noticed with a spark of gratitude, was thrown in the corner, along with his dress shoes. On the balcony, Elvis was still grinning at him, mid-dance pose. Nico shuttered.

He had absolutely no memory of how they came to possess the cut-out, or much memory of anything involving the night before, really, but he was more than satisfied not knowing when it came to the cut-out. 

The hotel room itself was much, much lesser than the suites Nico was used to, but definitely not the worst establishment he’d woken up hungover in — the morning after Leo’s twenty-fifth birthday still reserved that honor. 

He examined the room a bit longer, his phone didn’t seem to be among the sheets or on the bedside table, before momentarily giving up and throwing himself across the mattress. 

Will emerged from the bathroom after a few minutes, appearing much, much better than he did with his face buried in a trashcan. His face was still shiny from where he must have splashed it with water, and his flattened curls had a bit more life to them. 

He was only in a pair of slacks, his shirt probably among the ones on the ground, and missing his socks. The slacks, although nicely fitted, were obviously ruined from the night before. 

Hm. Very nicely fitted.  

Nico forced his gaze away. “Do you have your phone?” He asked, still spread across the mattress. “I haven’t been able to find mine.”

Will emptied his pockets, coming up with a tube of strawberry lip balm that he stared down at in confusion and a wrinkled pair of twenty-dollar bills, but shook his head. An expression of dread came over his face as he patted around the hotel room, anxiety obvious in his shoulders. Nico watched with lazy eyes, not even lifting his head from the duvet. 

Finally, Will threw himself next to Nico and huffed out a frustrated breath. “My wallet’s gone. And my suit jacket.” 

Nico made a low noise of sympathy. “We can look for them. My wallet’s in my bag -” Nico sat up, albeit much slower than he would on a good day, and glanced to the corner of the room. “Wait.” 

He scrambled off the mattress and grabbed the bag, examining it. His head fell back and he stared at the ceiling. “Oh my gods.” 

The mattress creaked slightly as Will adjusted. “What?” 

Nico let out a breath, slow. “This isn’t my bag.” Will waited for him to explain. “This is Leo’s bag. I must have grabbed the wrong one last night.” To be fair, both of their bags were black and silver, an easy mistake despite the several bright and heavy keychains hanging off Leo’s zipper. Nico unzipped the bag and promptly lost all his limited hope for humanity. Or, at least, any begrudging fondness he may have ever carried for Leo. 

“Oh,” Will said, peering at the bag. “And that’s bad?” 

“I was going to lend you some clothes, but -” Nico cut himself off and clenched his hands. 

Will gave him a concerned look, “Will he get mad if we borrow his clothes or something?”

“No, it’s just,” Nico sighed and upended the bag across the comforter. “This is what we’re stuck with.”

Will picked a bright pink crop top with purple seashells on the chest and a pair of black Adidas pants out of the pile with obvious confusion. “Is this... an outfit?” 

“Jason kept reminding us to pack pajamas and an extra outfit in our carry-on, just in case.” Nico held up the jeans and obnoxiously printed button-up in one hand and grimaced. “I’m hoping the crop top was supposed to be pajamas.” 

Will sighed. “I’ll take these, I guess.” He glanced down at his wrinkled, stained slacks. “It’s better than this, at least.”  

They changed quickly and silently, not bothering with modesty considering their current states. On the bedside table, the small clock read 10:23. Vaguely, he wondered when check-out was. 

“So,” Nico said after a long moment of silence as they laid in the bed, side by side, where they had fallen after getting changed. Will, from shoulder to hip, pressed warmth into his side. 

Nico stretched out his left arm to hover above them, “So. Married.” 

At some point, Will had apparently slid his own ring on and held it up now beside Nico’s. Something stirred in Nico’s chest at the sight of it — their rings. 

“Married,” Will agreed, somewhat breathless. His nausea must be back. 

Nico dropped his arm, Will doing the same a moment later, their arms overlapping. 

He was mostly blaming the hangover, being sick, and the city of Vegas itself, but Nico was never this comfortable with his morning-after visitors. Nico let his eyes slide shut and tried to avoid the thought entirely, especially the magnetic drift his mind seemed to have concerning the ring around his fourth finger, left hand. 

“Okay,” Nico took a deep breath, “so. We’re married, neither of us have our phones or wallets, and we’re in a strange city. Great.” 

Will curled on his side and groaned. “How the hell did we end up here?” 

“Vegas, fuck yeah!” Piper yelled as their shot glasses came up to clink together before tipping them at their mouths. They all cheered loudly, enough alcohol already on their tongues to make the strong liquor go down easy. Will threw his head back to laugh as Thalia gave out a victory yell as she downed two in a row. 

They weren’t the only bachelorette party in the casino, not even close, nor were they the biggest, but they were definitely gearing up to be one of the loudest. 

Hazel coughed around the harsh taste of her shot and waved her hands toward Clarisse’s bottle of water frantically. Clarisse, grinning, handed it over with a small laugh. 

“Disgusting, I’m never taking another shot,” Hazel gagged before she took a long sip of water. “I don’t care what you guys say, I’m ordering a Cosmo.” 

Piper, on her left, rolled her eyes in amusement. “Every time you drink those things, you make me swear to never let you have another.” 

“We’re in Vegas,” Hazel waved her off as a waiter approached. “Anyway, the guys are gonna be here soon.” 

Will snorted. “So Frank will carry you back to the hotel?” 

“As usual,” Piper muttered, still laughing. 

“That’s the dream,” Mitchell said, sighing dreamily. “A strong man to throw me over his shoulder and respectfully take care of me when I’m drunk.” 

Clarisse patted him on top of his head. “I’ll carry you back, Mitchell.” 

He turned to her, beaming, “You do love me!”

“Nah. It’s just so your sister doesn’t murder me for leaving you behind.” 

“Silena!” Annabeth yelled. “Oh my gods! I miss her! 

Clarisse checked her phone, her face going soft after a few moments. “She says hello and that misses you guys. Her flight is still scheduled for later tonight.” 

Annabeth leaned in, a look of stress on her face. Will was gay as they came, but that didn’t make Annabeth any less beautiful. “How did her meeting go? She was fighting for a better arts budget, right?” 

Clarisse scrolled on her phone for a second then smiled. “She did great, apparently. The school board is giving her more than she was asking for. A damn miracle, honestly.” 

Hazel started going misty-eyed. “That’s so amazing, oh my gods. I’m so proud of her!” 

Piper sighed and pulled Hazel in to lean into her chest. “It’s not even 4 p.m. yet, I can’t believe you’re crying.” 

“We started drinking at noon, to be fair,” Will pointed out. Hazel gave him a thankful, slightly adoring look. 

“Good for her, let’s drink to it!” Thalia announced, snagging a glass off a waiter’s full tray. Champagne, it seemed. She was gonna have a killer hangover with all the mixing she was doing. “Go Silena!” 

Clarisse took the drink out of Thalia’s hand and replaced it with a bottle of water, a challenging look on her face. Thalia rolled her eyes but cracked the cap open. 

“To Annabeth, my best friend in the world, who I’d kill for.” Thalia held up the water bottle as if to give a toast. “I’m drinking this water for you so when you drag us to a museum at an ungodly hour tomorrow morning, I won’t throw up on the exhibits.” 

Piper groaned. “We’re in Vegas and a museum is on your to-do list?” 

“They’re interesting!” She protested, smiling. “You guys don’t have to go. Percy’s coming.” 

“And miss out on your final days as a free woman? Never.” Thalia grabbed her hands and stared deep into her eyes. “Just say the word, Beth, and we’ll run away into the sunset.”

Annabeth knocked their shoulders together and pulled her hands away. “I’ll always be a free woman. I’ll just have the love of my life at my side.” 

Thalia scrunched up her face. “Gross. Don’t call Jackson that, I’ve known him since he was a snot-nosed brat.” 

“You have known me since I was seven,” Annabeth threw a hand in the air. “Longer than him!”

“Which is why this is so weird,” Thalia muttered. She looked around. “Where did Mitchell go?” 

Will glanced to the side — he hadn’t even noticed the other man getting up. Maybe he was drunker than he thought. 

Clarisse scoffed and gestured to their side toward where the poker tables were set up, a bit away from the bar and table they were taking up. Mitchell was perched at one of the poker tables, empty except for him and the Dealer. Mitchell was leaning forward to blow on the Dealer’s outstretched cards, laughing as the Dealer’s eyes went wide. Clarisse rolled her eyes as she turned back to them. “He’s flirting with some rando. I’ll keep my eye on them.”

Will grinned at them. “He do this often?”

She rolled her eyes when Will looked back at her. “When he’s drunk, yeah. At Silena’s birthday in New Orleans, he got marriage proposals.” 

“Plural?” He laughed. “Damn.” 

She shook her head. “At least he’s never been drunk enough to accept any.” 

“A blessing, I’m sure.” Will stood, thankfully not swaying yet. He could hold his liquor, but it had been a while since he last drank. “Can I get you anything from the bar?” 

She shook her head, her gaze flickering over the other women in the party, almost like she was counting them up. “Nah. I’m gonna keep my eye on these ones. I’ve got a soda, anyway.”

Will smiled and pushed away from the table. As he did so, Annabeth waved to catch his attention. 

“Bar?” She asked, her voice drunk-loud. He nodded. “Keep an eye out for Percy!” She yelled, grinning and excited. Her curly blonde updo was starting to come apart but, to be fair, they were already four shots in. “They should be arriving soon!” 

Will gave her an amused smile and nodded again before breaking off from the group. He was in the best part about drinking where his chest was warm, mind light, laughter easy. The nearest bar was just across the room, but before he headed off in that direction, he drifted toward the poker tables. 

Mitchell waved at him happily as he approached, apparently in the middle of some story he was gushing on about. From where Will was coming up, it sounded like he was outlining the latest plot on whatever reality show he and his sisters were watching. The Dealer was listening, completely enraptured.

Mitchell cut his story off as Will came up beside him. “Will!” he said, delighted. He pulled Will in for a hug like they just hadn’t seen each other twenty minutes ago. He turned to the Dealer, beaming. “This is my friend, Will!” 

The Dealer blinked a few times, almost like he was in awe, but seemingly snapped out of it after a few moments. He cleared his throat and picked up his deck of cards, shuffling them with ease. “Nice to meet you, Will. Are you here for a game?” His eyes flickered back and forth between Will and Mitchell. 

Will gently pulled Mitchell off him, making sure he was steady in his seat. “I’m good, just checking on my friend.” 

Mitchell picked up his drink. “I’m good! Connor’s teaching me how to play poker,” Mitchell said, a straw clenched in between his teeth. “I’m a slow learner, so it’s taking a while.”

Will had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Mitchell has, repeatedly, won the game night pool of dollar bills and candy with smug ease.

Mitchell grinned knowingly at him and, across the table, Will watched the Dealer go absolutely starry-eyed. 

Will leaned into Mitchell’s ear. ”Are you really flirting with the Dealer?” 

“You know I love a challenge, Will.” Mitchell’s gaze flickered to the man, who was red-cheeked and shooting them glances every few seconds. Mitchell’s face smoothed out into something a bit more serious. “He seems into it. I’d move on if he was uncomfortable.”

Will bumped their shoulders together. “I know. Let us know if you need anything, okay? I’m heading to the bar.” 

Mitchell agreed, and before Will was too far away, yelled after him. “Oh, bring me back a Manhattan!” This time, Will did roll his eyes. 

He retrieved the drinks, his own just a simple mixed drink the bartender recommended, and gave Mitchell a dull look as he passed the heavy cocktail glass over. 

Mitchell took the drink with a happy look and a wink as he turned back to the Dealer—Connor, he had mentioned — and promptly slid the fruit off the toothpick. “Oh, a cherry stem! Connor, did you know I can tie these in my mouth? Give me thirty seconds -”

Will turned away, chuckling as Connor went an unprecedented shade of red. He was almost matching the dark carpet of the casino. 

In his absence, their table has grown by several people: Percy and his party had arrived. 

The groom’s party must have hit a bar before they arrived — Grover, the best man, hung off of Percy’s back while talking enthusiastically with Thalia, who was now sitting entirely on the table cross-legged. Leo, they’d met at the bridal shower, briefly, sat in Piper’s lap and laughed loudly as Jason tried to push water into both of their hands. Clarisse and Annabeth were bent over a napkin covered in writing — talking where they were headed next, perhaps? — and yelling suggestions back to Percy, who only shrugged with a grin. Hazel was fully climbed into Frank’s lap and, evidently, dead asleep. Reyna, who Will had only met as his partner for the wedding ceremony, was leaning in to speak in the ear of a dark-haired man, his back to Will. 

Annabeth, as she glanced up for a moment, caught sight of him as he approached. “Will’s back!”

The rest of the party drunkenly, and very loudly, cheered and lifted their drinks. Will smiled and gave them a small wave. The dark-haired man turned with the commotion and faced him. Will’s breath punched out of his chest. 

The dark-haired man, one of Percy’s groomsmen, evidently, although Will definitely didn’t remember seeing him at any of the events thus far, wasted no time in sliding out of his chair, smoothly plucking a drink off a passing waiter’s tray, and approaching Will with nothing else but an obvious once-over. 

“Will, was it?” He asked with some amusement, coming to a stop a step closer than what would be considered polite. “I’m Nico. How haven’t we met yet?” 

Will let his lips edge up into a grin. He was just drunk enough to let his gaze linger obviously on the other man’s shoulders, chest, before dragging his eyes up to meet Nico’s. He let their hands slide together, a mimic of a handshake, and held on. He held up his straw to his lips and allowed himself to fall a bit farther from the sober part of him that would be awkwardly stammering through a flirtation right now. 

Nico’s gaze fell to the straw, and Will grinned. “Nice to meet you, Nico.” 

“Wait!” Nico gasped and sat up in the bed. “Wait, you’re Will!” 

Will turned to give him a questioning look. Fair, considering they had just introduced themselves. But after a few moments of staring at him, Will lit up too. “Nico! You’re Nico! You’re - you’re in Percy’s wedding party, right? I’m in Annabeth’s! We met last night!” 

“Thank the gods,” Nico let his shoulders drop in relief. “You’re not a stranger.”

He ran a hand down his hideous shirt, shifting a bit in the stiff fabric. Gods, Hawaiian print? Really, Leo? They were literally in the desert. 

Nico shook his head. “Wait, how do you know Annabeth?”

“College. We ran the Greek Life Council at the university.” Will ran a hand through his hair. “How do you know Percy?”

“We’ve known each other forever. Met at camp.” 

Will hummed. “So,” he said, turning on his side to face Nico. “What next? How do we find our friends?” 

Nico groaned. “Not to sound like millennial trash, but how the hell did people survive without cell phones? Like, how the hell did you go somewhere with your friends?” 

“Memorized phone numbers, I guess.” Will sighed. “I don’t suppose you know anyone's number?” 

Nico huffed. “The only number I have memorized is my father’s, but we can save that as a last resort. As in a ‘we’ve been living on the strip for weeks and no one is donating seltzer water’ last resort.”

Will snorted. “That’s fair.” He sighed. “Fuck. How are we gonna find them? I don’t even remember what hotel we were supposed to be staying at. We had our luggage sent straight there from the airport.” 

“I mean, my flight out is Sunday at noon,” Nico rubbed his face. “Jason has the ticket. Last resort, we hang around the airport and pray we find them.”  

“Uh,” Will wiped his hand over his face. “That’s definitely a last resort.” 

They went quiet for a long moment. In the silence, they could hear housekeeping banging about in the hallway, probably clearing out rooms for the next guests. 

“Food,” Nico said suddenly, “let’s grab our stuff and find a restaurant. I’ll be 100% more productive with some coffee in front of me.” 

Will readily agreed, unsurprising considering how much he had just cleared out of his stomach.

Nico went back to shoving Leo’s things back into his bag while Will collected their things thrown about the room, throwing them on the bed to add to Nico’s pile. 

“I -” Will had been bending down to grab the pile of clothes when he straightened up. “What is that?”

Nico didn’t bother to look up. “Elvis, I assume. Don’t know how we got him.” 

There was a moment of silence, “Wait, what?” 

Nico glanced up to where Will was giving him the most bewildered look ever. Will pointed to the desk shoved in the corner of the room where, Nico was realizing, a small potted cactus sat. Its pot had a little tuxedo painted on it. 

Will’s eyes were full of confusion. “Its name is Elvis?” 

“I,” Nico’s cheeks filled with warmth, “I thought you were talking about,” He gestured to the balcony. Will turned to it slowly, almost with dread.

“Why,” he breathed out. “Just why.”  

Nico shrugged and said nothing. It’s not like he had anything to offer. Instead, he went over to examine the pot more carefully. “When did we buy a cactus?” 

“I must have -” Will shook his head in confusion. “My sister wanted a souvenir. I must have got it last night.” 

Nico snorted but let it go. Will seemed distraught enough without some teasing. Nico picked up his suit jacket off the ground, folded it over his arm, but paused as he held something shift under his hand. He turned the fabric over and turned out the pocket. 

“Oh, fuck yes.” Finally a break. He held up the fist full of tokens to Will and gestured to a pamphlet on the desk—the hotel logo matched the ones printed on the coins. “Apparently, there’s a casino here. Must be where we got these.” He peered down at them in his palm. It was definitely enough to get them through the day, at least until they found their friends. “Let’s cash out and get out of here.” 

After clearing out of the hotel room and grabbing their meager possessions, along with Leo’s bag thrown over his shoulder and a small cactus in Will’s hands, they made their way to the first floor. Nico left Will in the lobby to check out — with his nausea, a smokey, alcohol-filled room was the last thing he needed — and cashed out at the front quickly. 

When Nico returned, Will was sitting on the street curb outside with Leo’s bag next to him, breathing deeply. Thank the gods the humidity wasn’t too bad. Will squinted against the sun as Nico towered over him.

Nico held up a handful of bills. “220 dollars is what we’re working with. Breakfast?” 

“Gods, please.” Will stood. “Where are we going?”

“Where are we going, again?” 

Will shrugged. A few of them had been muttering the club’s name excitedly since they left, but Will had had more… pressing things to keep his mind focused. 

Like Nico pressed into his side. 

Nico took Will’s shrug with a graceful arch of his eyebrow before shrugging as well and throwing his arm around Will’s shoulders. Will tried not to blush too hard — not like it would have mattered, with his cheeks already flushed from his handful of drinks. He willed his attention back to the group. 

Connor, the Dealer Mitchell had been flirting with, had gotten off his shift and immediately offered to whisk them off to another club that’s name made Leo go wide-eyed and excited. None of them were especially attached to their current plans of hitting up another club then a casino down the street, so they agreed with only a minimal amount of suspicious glaring Clarisse’s behalf.  

As they followed Connor out of the stretch limo he’d somehow managed to make appear, Will kept pace with Nico, who cast a cool look around the high-end club before nodding in approval. 

“How did you get us in here?” Piper had a slightly impressed look on her face as Connor lifted a velvet rope and gestured them forward. “It usually takes like, a year for a table reservation.” 

“I’ve got connections,” Connor said vaguely, checking his phone. “Hey, is there anything special you guys want?”

“Bottle service!” Leo exclaimed happily, plopping down in the booth. “This place is great!” 

Connor waved his hand and a few staff members in aprons appeared behind him. “Your personal wait staff for food and drink service, just tell them what you want.” 

Connor leaned in to the nearest staff person’s ear, who nodded briskly and began tapping away at his tablet. It was impossible to hear what they were saying over the blaring music, but the glint in Connor’s eyes only promised excitement. 

Connor waved off Frank as he pulled out his wallet for the wait staff. “It’s all on me, no worries.” He lifted a martini that was 100% not in his hands seconds before. “To the happy couple!” 

Mitchell happily picked up a drink off a waitresses tray and Clarisse didn’t hesitate to pluck the glass out of his hands and pass it over to Thalia, the nearest other person. Mitchell shot her a frown. 

Everyone cheered after they toasted, playfully shoving and patting Annabeth and Percy at the center of it all. Will downed the rest of his drink. He wasn’t even completely sure of when he had gotten it in the first place. 

“Hey,” Will shivered. Nico’s lips were against his ear. “Wanna dance?” 

Will didn’t reply with anything but a grin thrown over his shoulder as he set his glass down and broke off toward the jumping, bumping crowd. Nico, copying his grin, followed. 

Will waited until he was in the deep of the dance floor, with people jumping and yelling and spilling their drinks all around him to the music and lights of the bursting-with-life club. He began to sway. He wasn’t so drunk that he was dizzy, but he was drunk enough to simply want to close his eyes, feel his body, and sway. 

Nico’s hands fell on his hips and as he came behind him and they moved together to the deafening, pounding music. Against the dancing crowd of club goers, Nico pushed against him with his face sunk into Will’s neck. Gods, Will could feel his heavy breath against his skin. 

Their sway together was much, much too slow to match the pulsing tempo of the blaring music, but with Nico’s lips mouthing at his jawbone, Will absolutely didn’t care in the slightest. Despite the sweaty bodies bumping into them every other moment, it was like they were the only ones there. 

Just then, an array of confetti cannons blew off above them, raining down color. Will grinned against it all, loudly laughing as Nico grimaced at the small pile in his hair. 

They continued to dance like that —t hen switching positions, then dancing face to face so Will could press his own lips to Nico’s neck — for what felt like hours, despite only a handful of songs passing. He would have sworn there was a forever there, on that dance floor. 

Gods, he was drunk. 

A steady hand clasped down onto Will’s wrist, pulling him out of the haze instantly as he froze. He looked up to meet a pair of familiar eyes. 

“Sorry to interrupt,” Mitchell shot Nico a playful grin. “Can I steal Will for a second?” 

Will immediately stepped forward as Nico stepped back, difficult to do with the crowd pressing against them. “Are you okay?” 

Mitchell stuck his tongue out at him — he was probably as drunk as Will. “I’m fine. I have to go to the bathroom and I know I’m too tipsy to find my way back.” 

Will waved off Nico, who nodded and began weaving his way back toward their group. Mitchell grabbed Will’s forearm to drag him through the crowd, the opposite direction. 

Will went along but shook his head when Mitchell looked back at him, “I’m like, way further gone than you. We’re just going to be lost together.”

“Fine with me!” 

Mitchell, after asking an array of strangers, managed to find the bathroom without much trouble. There must have been another closer by — it was nearly empty. 

Will turned to the mirror as Mitchell broke off and winced at his current state. Away from the music and people, the sweat on his skin felt stickier and grosser than he remembered. Will tried to brush some of the glitter off but, of course, that only made it stick more to his hands. He sighed. Gods, he was covered in the stuff. 

Mitchell washed his hands and then turned to jump on the sink, his feet dangling. Will gave him an observing look. “You good?” 

Mitchell smiled, small, “I’m good. You?” 

Will turned to lean against the sink. “Drunk,” he decided on, the word feeling round in his mouth. “But good.” 

Mitchell laughed and pushed against his shoulder lightly. “You’ve been getting comfortable with Nico. How’s that?” 

“Good,” Will said lightly. “Although not as comfortable as you’ve been with Connor.” 

“Connor is… “ Mitchell smiled. “Nice. And he’s fun.” 

“He did get us into a luxurious, high-class club with a waiting list of two months,” Will chuckled. “It’s almost as if he’s trying to impress you or something.” 

“Yeah,” Mitchell said dreamily. Will ran his hand through his fair, messing around with his curls a bit in the mirror. “You ready?” 

Will pulled away from the mirror and nodded, pushing back one last stubborn curl. “Lets go.” 

Mitchell smeared the lip balm on then tossed it over to Will with a wink as he jumped off the counter. “Might want to use some of that.” 

Will rolled his eyes and pocketed it, following him out. 

They managed to get lost almost immediately, that was almost expected, but surprisingly it only took one employee, who Mitchell loudly but kindly asked if they knew where Connor was, to point them in the right direction. Much quicker than Will was expecting, they were back with their friends. 

Nico held out a bottle of water as they approached, probably guessing how thirsty Will was after their dancing. Will took a long, grateful drink from it and leaned against the wall.

Their large group was taking up nearly two booths and spilling out of both with high energy and drunkenness. Thalia was sitting on one of them, apparently trying to goad one of the security guards into an arm-wrestling match, while Reyna watched on with an amused expression. Hazel had her head pillowed in Frank’s lap as Frank held a juice box up for her, her face sleepy. 

Percy’s head was on Annabeth’s shoulder, a small, content smile on his face as Annabeth spoke to Grover and ran her fingers through his hair. Piper gave them both a disgusted look, despite the fact that one of Jason’s hands curled around her own, the other in Leo’s hand as he loudly sang along to whatever pop hit blasting from the speakers. 

Mitchell, of course, went directly to Connor after they arrived and was already babbling a mile a minute and waving his hands around as he spoke. As Will watched, Connor broke the two of them off slightly away from the group — even he could almost feel Clarisse’s glare on the other man — mutter in Mitchell’s ear then pull away to grin at him, a question on his face. Mitchell replied, shooting a glance at Will over his shoulder, and Connor nodded enthusiastically. Will shared a curious look with Nico as Mitchell dashed over to them.

“Hey,” Mitchell said breathlessly grinning. “Connor got another limo to take us to another place. Come with?”

Will shrugged and grabbed Nico’s hand as he peeled off the wall. “You grabbing the others?” 

Mitchell bit his lip and looked over his shoulder where the rest of the party was gathered, yelling in excitement as food was brought over on trays. 

He turned back to them, a bit serious now. “Maybe just us?” He held up his phone. “I’ll send a text in the groupchat. But they seem happy here.” 

Nico raised an eyebrow and glanced back to Connor. “So you want to go off with some stranger?” 

“He’s not a stranger,” Mitchell loudly insisted. 

Nico gave him a dry look, “What’s his last name?” 

“Who cares,” Mitchell said, “I’ll give him mine.” 

In the background, they all ignored Connor choking out, “Please.” 

Nico crossed his arm and examined them both over. When he looked at Will, Will’s lips curled up in a small smile. 

“Fine,” Nico grabbed the full bottle of champagne out of the chilled bucket, his bag out of the large pile where they had all stacked their possessions, and raised an eyebrow. “But you’re covering it.” 

“Of course,” Connor threw his arm over Nico’s shoulder and beamed at Mitchell. “Everyone ready to go?”

“I’m so not ready for this,” Will rubbed at his face. “My body can’t take this. I should have just stayed in the bathtub and died.” 

Nico snorted and paused so Will could bend over and (hopefully) keep his stomach under control. Will squinted up at him from behind a pair of sunglasses, also from Leo’s bag, and took a deep breath. “I will not throw up on the boardwalk.” 

Nico gave him an amused look. “A prediction or a hope?” 

“It can be both,” Will said dully and dropped his arms to his side. The crop top left most of his torso uncovered, but would hopefully be enough for any restaurant to consider a shirt. Nico took a moment to admire the exposed skin, somewhat glad he was able to snag the button-up; now that he thought about it, with the hot pink fabric and the twin purple shells on the chest, it was probably originally Piper’s. At least, on Will, the other man’s tan skin and beach blond hair complimented the look — Nico’d never be able to pull it off. 

Although, as he glanced down at the horrible tropical print, it wasn’t like he was showing off any high fashion at the moment either. 

“Where are we going again?” Will asked, his voice exhausted. 

“I’d Google Maps us somewhere, but,” Nico shrugged, “I’m just gonna find somewhere open.” 

“Good enough for me,” Will muttered. “I’d eat straight up trash right now.” 

Nico rolled his head to tilt in Will’s direction. “Oh, husband -” He drawled out, “you sure do know how to woo me.”

At Nico’s words, Will’s face turned a dark red. 

“It - it probably wasn’t even legal,” Will said, dropping his gaze to mess with his borrowed sunglasses. In his other hand, he was still clutching onto the cactus. “I didn’t find a marriage certificate anywhere.”

“But…” Nico winced, rewinding the limited memories he had of the night before.”I think I remember something? Uh, a ceremony?” 

Will exhaled. “Yeah. I vaguely remember something like that. I don’t really remember much from last night but…” He winced. “I’ve got some wedding-ish flashes.” 

Nico hummed. “‘Wedding-ish flashes,’ just what I always wanted from my wedding day.” His lips turned up into a sharp grin. “So, Husband -” somehow, Will’s cheeks darkened, “what else do you remember?” 

Will seemed to very pointedly ignore Nico’s nickname. “Uh.” He turned his gaze upward as he shifted through his thoughts. “A lot of drinking, a club, some dancing and, uh...a casino?” 

Nico held out the pair of dice to Will, his dark eyes glittering. “Blow?” 

“You’re gonna have to work harder if you want me to blow you.” The alcohol had clearly taken over, but Will was too gone to be embarrassed by that — especially with the color filling the apples of Nico’s cheeks. Nonetheless, he leaned forward, keeping Nico’s gaze. “But I suppose just this once.” 

Will very delicately blew out a puff of air across the dice, enjoying how Nico’s eyes fell down to his lips, and pulled away to stand straight. Nico didn’t move. 

“Are you going to roll?” Will asked, a tad sweetly. Nico blinked and, in a smooth movement, threw out his hand to let a pair of bright red dice fall from his palm to dance across the green velvet table. 

“Oh,” Nico winced exaggeratedly as the boxman announced the number, “you’re gonna have to try harder next time, Will. Don’t you want us to win?”

Will playfully shoved the other man. The boxman seemed to realize they were otherwise occupied and moved to the next couple, leaning and stumbling over each other. 

“Drink?” Nico asked, stepping away from the paper with a few casino chips shoved into his pockets. 

Will nodded and reached for his wallet as they approached the nearest bar, and as soon as his hand hit his flat pocket, he sighed. “Fuck,” Will winced. “I left my wallet with Clarisse.” 

Nico shot him an amused look as he took out his own wallet. “Oh, how convenient. This is all a ploy for me to pay, isn’t it?”

Will rolled his eyes and leaned against the bar. “You caught me.”

Nico caught his eye and nodded over to the table Mitchell and Connor had grabbed, “Take a seat, I’ll grab us something.” 

Will happily agreed and drifted back to the others. Connor had managed to get them another prime table where at least the noise wasn’t as blaring as it was by the slot machines. And, considering how Mitchell was going on and on about his family, that was probably a good thing. 

Nico reappeared a few minutes later with a tray of drinks and passed them each one. Gods, Will didn’t even know what he was drinking at this point, except that it was blue and sugary sweet. 

Mitchell stood to happily pluck a drink off the tray, continuing what he was saying. 

“- and listen, Clarisse is the best,” Mitchell stated, gesturing grandly, the drink in his hand spilling as he did so. “The greatest. Like, the coolest person ever who is marrying my sister and could probably beat me up but would never. She’s so cool. But do you think she would ever let me run off with a dude in Vegas?” 

Will shook his head gravely. “Definitely not.” 

Mitchell waved his arm like Will was proving his point, half of his drink now definitely down his arm at this point. Nico winced as some of it splashed across his neck, bright blue. Will carefully took the glass out of his hand, not that Mitchell noticed as he continued to talk. “And I’m having such a good time! I would be so sad if I didn’t do this! I wouldn’t even know what I was missing!” 

As he spoke, he slid into Connor’s lap and threw his arms around Connor’s neck, not breaking his sentence for a moment. “- and I adore her, she’s the coolest person ever and she and Silena are going to be together forever, but!” He held up one finger dramatically. Connor went cross-eyed following the motion. “Just because they both found their soulmate at sixteen and want to settle down in their brownstone doesn’t mean I can’t have a life! Right?” 

“Right,” Connor agreed, breathless. 

“I mean, I — you can touch me, Connor, I’m not gonna break — I don’t even mind the responsibility they put on me with my siblings -” 

Will and Nico shared an amused look. Connor’s hand very hesitantly came to rest on Mitchell’s back. Nico leaned in close, his mouth coming up to Will’s ear. 

“How drunk is Mitchell?” 

Will turned into his voice, their noses just barely not brushing. He kept his voice low, despite the loud music around them more than protecting their conversation. “Not as drunk as he seems,” Will’s eyes flickered to Mitchell then back to Nico. “He’s just leaning into it.” 

Nico chuckled. “Connor doesn’t seem to mind.” 

Will glanced back to where Connor was nodding along to whatever Mitchell was going on about. Mitchell was now facing him, still firmly in his lap, but waving his hands as he talked and talked. 

Will knew from experience — Mitchell was a talker when he was tipsy. 

“Maybe they’ll run away and get married,” Nico said, a grin in his voice, his words back close to Will’s ear. “I hear that’s something Vegas is good for.” 

“Don’t get any ideas,” Will muttered, holding up his drink in mock-threat. “I’m a third date kinda guy.” 

Nico’s gaze flickered down to Will’s lips, just like before. “Good to know.” 

From their side, Mitchell let out a loud, ringing peal of laughter that had half of the men within radius looking over in interest. Connor’s eyes were probably wide as saucers. 

Will’s lips pulled up into a small smile, without his permission. 

“Do you think they’ll like each other in the morning?” Will asked softly.

Nico didn’t break his gaze from Will’s. “With how they’re looking at each other,” he said, “how couldn’t they?” 

Will huffed out a laugh, but the humor didn’t last long with the heat sparkling up between them. Will swallowed, feeling sober and drunk and completely on fire. 

With all their flirting and touching and sucking on each other’s necks, they hadn’t actually gotten around to a kiss yet. 

Will’s eyes flickered down then up. 

Well. That wouldn’t do. 

He leaned in, his eyes fluttering shut, and kissed Nico. 

Within moments, it was anything but chaste. Will’s hand came up to cup Nico’s jaw while the other man pressed impossibly into him, separating for a moment only to shift closer. Nico’s hand fell down to Will’s thigh, using that hold as leverage to push himself further into the kiss. 

Will broke away to breathe, a small gasp following the action. When he opened his eyes, Nico was already looking at him. 

“Thank the gods,” Nico leaned in again to mutter against his lips, “that I found you tonight.”

“Oh, thank the gods,” Will, as best as he was able, sprinted to the diner doors Nico had pointed out only moments before. “I never thought we’d find you.” 

Nico wasn’t far behind, stumbling through the heavy double doors, and Will didn’t hesitate to throw himself in the booth they saw and settle down with his head pillowed on his folded arms. Nico shot him a wearily smile as the hostess, thank the gods , swept by with a pot of steaming coffee. Nico fumbled quickly to flip their glass mugs over, shooting her a grateful look as she filled them to the brim. She left with a promise that their waitress would be by soon, going to greet a few more customers at the door. 

Nico didn’t waste any time with sugar or cream — from the burnt smell of it, it was bound to be under his usual standards no matter what. He held the steaming, boiling hot cup to his face and inhaled. 

Nico snorted and nudged Will’s foot with his own. Will cracked open an eyelid, the sunglasses now pushed into his curls, and squinted at him. 

“Have a drink,” Nico nodded to Will’s own cup at his elbow. “You’ll start to feel more alive, at least.” 

Will groaned but sat up, rubbing his palm into his eyes. “I’m not sure if I want that right now.” He muttered, but did as told. 

Nico took a tentative sip as well. It was like burnt acid and Nico loved every single shitty drop of it. 

Their waitress approached, messing with her notepad, but before she could go into some pre-prepared spiel on their specials of the day, she paused and gave them a wide, excited grin. “You’re back!” 

He and Will shared a startled look over their cups. Will was the first to turn back to her. 

“You... know us?” 

She laughed softly. “Y’all were here last night! Or, this morning, I guess.” She smiled pleasantly, “You two were so excited last night. We get our fair share of late-night post-wedding parties, but y’all were just too damn cute to forget.” She glanced at the potted cactus, at Will’s other elbow on the table, and cooed. “Aw, so cute! How’s being newlyweds?” 

“Um, it’s great.” Nico leaned forward, a thought occurred to him. “Actually, did we happen to leave a phone or a wallet anywhere?” 

She , Erica her nametag read, shook her head. “Sorry, I don’t think anything was reported, but I’ll check. Actually though, we did find a jacket last night that I’m pretty sure is yours. I can grab that?” 

They both perked up. “Yes, please,” Will said. “Thank you!” 

She smiled. “No problem. In the meantime, can I get y’all the Lovebirds morning special?” 

They agreed quickly and watched as she walked off. They turned to each other. 

“Your jacket,” Nico said hopefully. “Maybe your phone is in the pocket?” 

Erica returned after only a few moments and handed the jacket over to Will with a much too-perky smile, especially considering the tail-end of the shift she must be at. Will took it, thanked her, and immediately flipped the jacket over. He turned out the pockets. Unfortunately, no phone appeared. There was nothing but some crumbled receipts, a folded piece of paper, and a candy wrapper. 

Will unfolded the paper then went still. “Um.” 

Nico craned his neck to see. “What is it?” 

He laid the paper flat and smoothed his hand over the folded grooves. “Well,” he started, his voice high. “It’s our marriage certificate.” 

Nico's mouth went dry as he pulled the paper close to him. Sure enough, the loopy font detailed where (some flowery sounding Chapel) and when ( 2.40 a.m). His own signature was scrawled at the bottom next to Will’s.

Nico never really saw himself as the type of guy to get married but, well, here it was. 

Gods, his father was going to murder him. Jason too — they were probably going to team up to do it. 

“It’s legal,” Will finally said, staring down at the ring on his finger. “That makes this… difficult.” 

Nico flipped over the paper and frowned at the blankness on the back. Will gave him a curious look as he dropped his shoulders. “I was hoping maybe someone in the wedding party was our witness and left their number on the paperwork.” 

Will sighed. “No luck?” 

Nico shook his head and set the papers down on the table. “Apparently, our witness was some random person. A Connor Stoll?” Nico frowned. “Did we just ask someone off the street?” 

Will looked down at the papers himself before sitting up. “Connor,” he muttered, his eyes going distant. “Weren’t we hanging out with a Connor last night?”

Nico rubbed one temple with his hand. “William, we could have been in the company of the Queen of England last night and I would have had no idea.” 

Will shot him a look of amusement before returning to his thoughts. “I think we were. He was hanging with us in Annabeth’s party. He worked at the first casino we went to?” Will’s gaze flickered up as he remembered. “He got us into this really nice club. He knew the owners.” 

Nico raised an eyebrow. “This random dude just started following you guys around?”

Will let out a small laugh. “I think Mitchell flirted with him and he, like, fell in love in two seconds. I think he was trying to impress Mitchell with the club.” 

Nico cracked a grin. “Did it work?” 

Will shook his head with a small smile and gesture that said I have no idea. 

Erica came by with their food and after a request from Nico, a ballpoint pen. 

The ‘Lovebirds special’ seemed to be a regular breakfast spread with the exception of the fried eggs and fruit, both shaped like hearts. 

He took a sip of his coffee and a bite of his toast before spreading out a paper napkin to take notes, his pen at the ready. “Okay, so a Connor Stoll was our witness. For some reason. So by 2 a.m., we managed to break off from most of our friends, lose our phones, and get married.” 

Will held up the crumpled receipt. “But we still had our wallets when we got married. At least, you did. You paid with debit.” He read over the slip of paper and grinned. “Oh, wow, you paid for the Platinum Diamond Deluxe package. How nice, you went all out.”

“Of course, Husband,” Nico said, sarcastically. “How could I resist?” 

Will gave him a small smile, just barely lifting his lips up, and Nico’s heart skipped a beat.

“Wait,” Nico reached out to grab at the jacket’s breast pocket where a small white corner of something poked out. He pulled the item out — thin, shiny plastic. 

“A polaroid?” Will winced. “How bad is it?” 

Nico examined the photo. “It looks like it’s from the ceremony.” The photo was sticky, because of course it was. He wiped some stray glitter off with the back of his hand and placed it between them. 

Will pointed at the photo excitedly. “Mitchell! He was there with us!” 

“Finally,” Nico said, his voice loose with relief. “We’re getting somewhere.” 

At that moment, Erica swept by to check on their meal. Nico threw Will a hesitant look before turning to her. 

“Hey, if you have a few minutes, we have a few questions,” he gave her an exaggerated wince. “We’re piecing together some details from last night.” He held out the photo and pointed to Mitchell and Connor. “Do you remember if they came in with us?” 

Erica nodded. “Oh, yeah. We weren’t too busy, and that one -” She pointed her pen at Connor, “- was awful kind. Kept apologizing for y’all but I didn’t mind.” 

“Did we mention where we were going next?” Will asked hopefully. 

She thought for a moment. “You two left first,” she said slowly, as if combing her memory. “Without telling the other two. Don’t know where they went next, but they were talkin’ about you two gettin’ hitched before y’all left,” she shrugged. “They were avoiding some girl?” A bit of color came into her cheeks. “I know I shouldn’t have been listenin’, I just couldn’t help it. I love a bit of drama.” 

“A girl?” Nico asked. “Do you remember who?” 

“Um, it was some pretty name I’ve never heard. Reese? It started with a C…” 

Will leaned forward. “Clarisse?” 

She snapped her fingers. “Yes! Clarisse, that was it. She was nice, but real puffy when she couldn’t find y’all.” 

“Clarisse was here?” Will ran a hand over his face. “She came looking for us?” 

“Sure did,” Erica agreed happily. “Anyway, can I get y’all anything else? My shift is finally ‘bout to end, thank the lord, but I can grab you something out the kitchen before I go.” 

They both declined, still picking at their plates and drowning their coffee, and she left with a bright smile and wave.

Nico was fiddling with the ring on his finger when he looked up. “What were we thinking last night?” 

Will threw back the last of his coffee. “We both married strangers last night, Nico. We weren’t.” 

Will… was drunk rambling. 

He was too drunk to even feel weird about it considering Nico being a relative stranger. He just — he had so many emotions, it felt like he was bursting with them. 

They had left the casino a bit ago — it was late. Will vaguely wondered if the others were looking for them, despite Mitchell’s reassuring texts. 

They had stumbled onto the street, heading toward the limo, when Mitchell had spotted, then begged to visit, a churro stand. That’s where they were now, sitting on the curb with wrinkled wax paper and sugar in their laps. Connor and Mitchell were a bit further down, leaving him and Nico to curl up against each other. 

“Why is my life such a mess,” Will had been groaning in various variations for the past ten minutes. 

“I’ve just lived like, my entire life being paranoid and anxious and I just, I let it take over everything!” Will made a gesture of frustration, his movements harsh and jerky. “I’ve never done anything exceptional or great, or even just crazy. It’s like I put myself in this stupid bubble that’s done nothing but put like, a layer of plastic between me and everyone else. And like, it’s like there isn’t a wall there until I try and step out of my comfort zone and I feel like I’m being suffocated! Because there’s plastic!” Will was breathing hard by the end of his rant. He dropped his face into his hands. “And I think I’m drunk.” 

Nico’s hand came up from his back to rest in Will’s curls. Will leaned into his hand completely and unembarrassed. 

“We’re young,” Nico said simply, running his hand through Will’s hair, more warm comfort than the heat they’d been trading all night. “We’ve got time, Will. Hell, we’ve still got a whole night. You’re gonna be fine.” 

Will blinked then nodded like this never occurred to him. “I… I think you’re right. Why am I freaking out?” 

Nico had started rubbing his back as he spoke though, which was nice, then it just made him emotional when he realized that no one’s ever rubbed his back when he’s been messy drunk before, and then he started crying. 

“Let it out,” Nico said lowly, shuffling to get a churro napkin that was only slightly stained with grease and pressing it to Will’s cheeks. Will sobbed harder. 

Where else was he going to find a man to wipe his tears for him? Gods, Will was in love. 

“Why am I crying,” Will sobbed, “You’re so nice and I like you a lot and I’m so happy. But I’m sad too. Like… pudding.” 

“Pudding?” 

“Like,” Will stopped crying long enough to think through the metaphor. “Like, you add powder and milk to make pudding. You use both. That’s me.” 

Nico thought it through before nodding sagely and wiping the rest of Will’s cheeks dry. “Pudding.” 

Will stared at him for a long, long moment — the city lights looked absolutely beautiful across Nico’s pale skin. “We should make out.” 

“Oh, yeah, definitely.” 

They did so quite happily on the street curb as other tourists weaved around them. Nico was sitting in his lap, and Will wasn’t completely sure when or how that happened but he definitely wasn’t complaining. Only a few steps down the street, Connor’s voice was loud enough to hear from where they sat. 

“Are you sure you don’t want any more water?” Connor pressed the cold water bottle onto Mitchell’s forehead, most likely bought from the amused-looking Churro salesman. “I can get you an Uber back to your friends’ hotel? Or I can call them? Do you want something real to eat?” 

Mitchell stared up at him for a long moment before gasping, “Oh! Will, he’s so respectful!” 

Will, from where he was sucking at Nico’s neck, pulled away to grin. “That’s like, your dream man.” 

Connor’s face flushed deeply as Mitchell loudly agreed. Mitchell threw his arms around Connor’s neck and leaned back to look up at him. “Will you carry me to a restaurant?” 

“I will literally do anything you ask me,” Connor said, much too seriously. “Get on my back?”

Will threw Nico a teasing grin over his shoulder. “Get on my back?” Nico rolled his eyes, looking put-upon, and marched forward, Will’s hand held tight in his own. 

As they walked down the street, the crowd became impossibly thicker as people stood stock still, staring up. Curious, Will followed their gaze and paused, the rest of them following. For a long moment, nothing happened and, just when Will was about to pull away, the ceiling came to life. 

Wow, Will thought, in awe. The ceiling completely lit up in a stunning space design, painting stars and galaxies above them as the music ramped. People around them already had cameras trained to the ceiling, capturing it all.  

With the ceiling painted up in color and changing designs above him and people pressed all around him, watching art unfold — it all felt more like this was all just a corner fold they were pressed into for the night, like this place — this world where they all stared up into art with awe and adoration and aspirations tied on their wrists and ring fingers — it felt like an entire world was in this street, just for him and Nico’s hand in his. 

Will pulled his gaze away from the ceiling and tried to drink in this moment entirely, tried to memorize how Nico’s lips were slightly perked up, how the color reflected off his dark eyes, how his eyes scrunched up when he caught Will staring at him so shamelessly, so willing to be seen by another. 

“Hey,” Will said, impossibly soft in the word and his soul. “I’m drunk.” 

Nico let out an equally soft laugh. “Yeah. Me too.” 

Will wound his arm through Nico’s and leaned against him. He stared at the other man’s profile, at Nico’s pale skin lit up as colored lights spun around them, at his soft smile and eyes. “Wanna do something crazy?” 

Nico looked at him. A wide grin bloomed across his face. “What were you thinking?”

Will leaned in to press his lips to the underside of Nico’s jaw. “We’re in Vegas. Wanna get hitched?” 

Nico pulled back just slightly to look over Will’s expression. Will just smiled softly. 

“You know what?” Nico ran a hand through Will’s curls. “Let’s do it.”

Will smiled and leaned in to press a chaste, but real and genuine kiss against Nico’s lips. 

“Hey!” Will stepped back from Nico to get Mitchell and Connor’s attention. “We’re gonna go get married!” 

Mitchell automatically cheered and threw his arms up while Connor, previously staring at Mitchell, snapped to attention and exclaimed, “What?”  

“If I die,” Will muttered, his arm over his eyes, “does that mean everything I own will go to you?” 

Nico shrugged. “Probably.”

Will hummed. “Cool. Take care of my CD collection.”

Nico gave him a disgusted look. “You still buy CDs? I can’t believe I married you.” 

“I want to support artists!” Will said into his arm, not bothering to remove it. “What are we even doing now?”

Nico sighed, looking around. “I was hoping hanging around these streets would jog our memories a bit since we were obviously around the area. I’m not having any luck, you?” 

Will shook his head, his arm still over his eyes. 

“I think Percy mentioned a casino for today but -” Nico waved his hand around them. No less than three casinos were within shouting distance. “Kind of a long shot. What was Annabeth planning?” 

“No idea. She sent an itinerary to our phones, but some museums, I think?” 

“There’s probably a dozen museums in Vegas,” Nico rubbed his hand over his face. “Unless we find our phones, or at the very least our wallets, we’re fucked.” 

Will tipped his head back and finally let his arm fall back. Even hungover to hell and back, he was unfairly attractive — in a hot pink crop top of all things. He looked like a low-budget Instagram fuck boy. Gods, Nico needed higher standards. 

Nico shot a look at the small potted plant in between them. “How’s the cactus doing?”

“I think I’m going to call him Elvis,” Will’s lips curved up into a tired smile, “little Elvis. To always remember our time here.” 

‘Oh yes,” Nico’s voice was heavy with sarcasm. “I personally wouldn’t want to forget another moment of this.” 

Will went quiet before asking, “Do you think our friends think we’re dead?” 

Nico thought for a moment. “Probably. I mean, statistically, it’s likely.”

“Perfection.” 

“I adore chaos, but right now I’m a drunk toddler and the three of you are drunk babies.” He pressed his hands together and brought them to his mouth. It almost looked like he was praying. “How the hell did I get in charge here?” 

They had all piled into the limo at Connor’s insistence after Will’s declaration which, considering the many available drinks stocked in the cooler back there, probably wasn’t the wisest decision. 

“Feel free to get on the drunk baby level,” Will held up his drink from under Nico’s arm. “It’s great. I haven’t worried about anything, like, all night.” 

Connor took a deep breath. “Unfortunately, I have been doing all of the worrying.” He sighed and leveled with them. “You guys can’t get married.” 

“We’re getting married,” Nico shrugged, apologetic. “With or without you.” 

Mitchell curled his hand around Connor’s arm and leaned his head onto his shoulder. “Definitely with!” Mitchell said, then brightened. “Will, can I be your Best Man?” 

“Yes!” 

Mitchell turned to Connor, a serious plea in his eyes, a small pout on his lips. “Connor, I think they should get married if they want.” 

Will leaned down to kiss Nico lightly on the lips. “We want to.” 

Mitchell gave him an expectant look, waiting. Connor stared at him, his gaze desperate. 

Finally, he broke his gaze away to glare at the ceiling of the limo. “Oh my gods. Fine. Okay, let’s do this, then. You guys are going to get married.”  

-

I’m going to get married, Will thought an hour and a 24-hour chapel later. I am getting married. 

Connor had managed to arrange the whole ordeal with his many and mysterious connections with just a few taps and texts on his phone. Will and Nico simply handed Connor their phones once they realized they were much, much too drunk to be in any way helpful and allowed the whole thing to be handled while they made out in the backseat of the limo.

But now that it was actually happening … 

Will struggled not to sway under the lights and expectations of everyone staring at him. He was in the front of the chapel, the many empty pews filed out before him, while Connor and Mitchell watched on from the front. The officiant — an amused and colorful young woman with bubblegum pink hair — had asked if they had any vows. 

He swallowed and tried his best not to slur his words as he looked back to Nico, whose eyes were scrunched in the corners. He’d probably get wrinkles there one day. Will wanted to see them. 

“Nico di Angelo,” Will managed, “you’re kind and I like you, and you rub my back when I cry. I want to eat more street food with you and laugh until my stomach hurts in sticky booths. When I look at you, I feel like I’m going to be overwhelmed with love.” Will kept his words simple and quiet, just for the other man. “And I want to marry you tonight.” 

Nico was ever so softly beaming — gorgeous. 

“Will Solace,” Nico said at his turn, “you’re fun and funny and you let your friend drag you around an entire night yet say you never take adventures. I saw you tonight and I felt like I was being drawn to you with a magnet. I’ve wanted to be with you every moment I’ve met you, which sounds very romantic if you think we’ve known each other longer.” Nico smiled. “You’re terrible at gambling and metaphors and I want to marry you tonight,” he repeated, his voice curled with some emotion Will couldn’t pin-point.

They finished up the rest without much fanfare, until it was time for them to exchange rings and matching words. 

Will slid his own class ring onto Nico’s long ring finger. Nico looked down at it, flexed his fingers, then reached for Will’s. 

With their wedding package, they had their pick of an array of silver rings. Nico had only taken a few moments to pick Will’s. It was a plain silver band with a thin line of diamonds wrapping around the top and bottom, simple and elegant. Will couldn’t help but freeze in awe at how it looked and felt there, with Nico’s fingers wrapped around his own. 

The officiant asked one more question — Will felt lightheaded with it all. 

“I do,” Will finally said, breathless with how much he meant it. 

“I do,” Nico met him in softness and in gaze. 

And then - 

“- I now pronounce you husband and husband,” Bubblegum said before grinning and bowing out. “You may now kiss your husband.” 

Will let out a soft, unbelieving laugh and stepped forward to pull Nico’s face to his. They were hardly even kissing with the force of their matching grins. They pulled away only to rest their foreheads together, joyful. 

Mitchell and Connor were cheering impossibly loud in the front row, clapping and jumping as Nico and Will joined hands and held them up. Mitchell didn’t hesitate to stumble out of the pew toward them. 

“I'm so happy for you!” Mitchell threw himself at Will, his arms around his neck. Nico stepped away to speak to Connor. “This is so romantic! I love this and you and Nico and you guys together!” 

Will laughed and grabbed at Mitchell’s shoulders, “I love you too!” He kept a tease in his voice as he turned to Connor. “Are you guys next?” 

Connor choked as Mitchell spoke over him. “My siblings would kill me!” He said, leaning into Connor’s chest. “Next time, I’ll make sure to drag them all here with me.” 

Connor was at least distracted by his impending heart attack by a sheepish employee, who was gesturing to some paperwork as she led him away. 

Will stared down at the silver ring on his finger, his heart pounding. 

I’m married, he thought. 

That thought felt more comfortable than he’d thought. 

In the background, Connor was still signing paperwork and passing an envelope over with a few muttered words while Mitchell — who had been given a small basket of plastic flower petals — threw them in the air, laughing. Connor smiled and picked a single one out of Mitchell’s hair, tucking it into his pocket. Nico, behind him, was gathering their few things. Apparently, the chapel’s next wedding appointment was soon. 

The officiant was holding up one of those instant cameras and gesturing for them to squeeze together. “Photo time!” 

They all posed pressed together to fit in the frame, but Will couldn’t help but glance at Nico right before the flash. 

Husband. 

-

An hour later, they had finally managed to get to that restaurant. 

The waitress, Erica, smiled at them as she brought out french fries and mozzarella sticks — they hadn’t been able to agree — and giggled at their faux bickering before dashing off to help the other few customers. The booth Connor had shoved them into was sticky and slightly greasy, but neither of them especially minded. They were, disgustingly, sharing one side of the booth, with Will leaning into Nico’s space. Connor and Mitchell were in the booth next to them, arguing loudly, joyfully, and drunkenly about — Star Wars? Maybe? Whatever it was, Mitchell looked ready to brawl. 

Will had shrugged off his suit jacket when they arrived, leaving him only in a crisp cream button-up, a delightful contradiction to the dark gray of Nico’s own shirt. Nico ran a hand down his back just to watch him shiver.

They had been talking throughout the meal, occasionally stopping to just stare at their rings, but they had fallen into a comfortable, sleepy silence the past few minutes. Will’s head rested on Nico’s shoulder, his curls pressed against his neck. Nico smiled, glanced out the window, and lightly shook the other man to attention.

“Hello, Husband,” Nico said as Will’s eyes blinked open, “there’s a taxi outside. Let’s get out of here?” 

Will returned his soft expression. “Where to, Husband?” 

Nico pulled him out the door, their friends still distracted. “I think I know a place.”

“So,” Nico took a sip of his water. They had crawled into some shopping center for some relief from the increasing heat and had curled up on a bench while they rested and picked at chips. Will, at least, had regained most of his normal coloring. “Why do you think we got married?” 

Will ripped into a pretzel and turned thoughtful. The edge of his crop top had a dot of mustard on it — good. Serves Leo right for packing it, and then forcing Nico to look at Will in it all day and being unfortunately still attracted to him. “What do you mean? We were drunk.”

“I mean, I’ve gotten beautifully trashed loads of times,” Nico observed, “and I’ve even been to Vegas before, and I’ve never gotten close to getting hitched. What changed so much that I was suddenly up for the idea?” 

Will went quiet for a long moment before he hung his head in shame. “I… it was probably my idea,” he admitted, “I just always thought it sounded...fun.”

Nico raised an eyebrow. “We’re having fun? I wish you would have told me earlier.” He continued to think over the night, confusion clouding up his few thoughts. “But, why?” Nico pressed. “I can get running off from our friends, the different clubs and casinos, the drunken shit we got up to. But marriage?” 

“You’re…” Will looked off in the distance, his cheeks flaming. “You’re my type, okay? I probably got wasted, attached myself to your side, and talked you into it.” He let out a rough breath, “I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be sorry,” Nico said automatically. “Remember how much fun we’re having? No regrets in the least.” He held up Little Elvis. “And hey, without our fateful marriage we never would have found him.” He rotated the cactus to look at it from all angles. “Definitely worth it.” 

Will gave him a bewildered look then burst out into laughter. “You’re ridiculous,” he said, his words jumbled. “Give me my cactus back.” 

Nico did so, just glad that dripping sad look was off his face. Will held the pot close to his chest with both hands, their snacks forgotten. 

“If I had to Vegas-marry anyone, I’m glad it was you.” Will nudged their feet together and shot him a coy smile, looking at him through his eyelashes. “You’re not too bad, Husband.” 

And, as if something completely shifted, Nico suddenly incredibly understood why drunk him was so completely up for marrying a relative stranger. 

A brief memory floated up from the night before—the exact same grin from Will, except a bit teasing, a bit flirty. Another — Will’s body pressed into his, their lips together, lights around them. Will’s hand squeezing his, a grin thrown over his shoulder as he pulled Nico along. 

Oh, Nico thought, yeah, that makes sense.

“If it helps, I probably didn’t need much convincing,” Nico cleared his throat. “You’re, uh, my type too.”  

Will smiled, small. “I figured,” he teased, “you know, from all the making out and agreeing to marriage.” Will sat back like he was thinking something over, 

“You know, it was truly my fairytale wedding. Absolutely none of my family, nothing I’ve ever thought of having, not even a cake or a honeymoon.” 

“Oh, forgive me, dear,” Nico said, dryly. “You know, for our anniversary perhaps I’ll arrange for some European extravaganza. Venice, Paris, London — the hits. You can have all the cake you want.” 

Will sat up straight suddenly at his words, frozen. “Wait,” his eyes were wide, “I know where we went after the restaurant.” 

“The Eiffel Tower,” Will tossed a teasing grin over his shoulder. “Paris. Promise we’ll go one day?” 

“We can go right now, baby,” Nico said, equally teasing. “But that’s not what we’re here for.” 

Nico continued to drag them down the street, all kinds of beautiful people passing, lights flashing, the cool air blowing across his face; art in motion. He pulled them out of the crowd commotion into a somewhat clear area where, at least, they weren’t bumping into anyone just by standing there. Despite the late hour, the life of the city was obvious — laugher and music and excited screams cascaded together into a dull roar. 

“Give it a few moments,” Nico shot him a grin. “You’ll see.”

Will was happy to do just that, leaning into Nico’s side, only he turned his head and caught his eyes on a tiny little shop glowing across the pavement. He gasped and stumbled forward, Nico following. 

“Oh, my sister,” Will pointed toward the stall, the gesture a bit unsteady. “I told her I would get her a gift. Oh my god, she would love that.” 

Nico plucked one of the cacti off the shelf and held it up. “Wanna get it?” 

Will patted his pockets, as if going for his wallet, and dropped his shoulders. “I keep forgetting I left my wallet with Clarisse. We were supposed to be together all night and she’s sober -” 

Nico gave him an amused chuckle and took the cactus up to the cashier. Thankfully, they seemed to be affiliated with the grand hotel towering behind them and smoothly took Nico’s debit card without any problem. Nico set his wallet on the counter to take the pot from Will.

“I love him,” Will declared, handing it over. “He’s adorable.”

Nico hummed and took the pot away only for a few moments so the cashier could wrap it up properly, giving it a small clear plastic box so it didn’t stick through the bag. Will watched the process in awe.

“It has a home,” Will peeled back the plastic bag to run his hand over the box it came in. 

Nico chuckled and shoved his hands back into his pockets, holding out one elbow. Will grabbed on, the plastic bag dangling from his wrist. Nico led them toward the middle of the open area, much more crowded than Will was expecting. Still, they remained pressed together. 

“Should start soon,” Nico said, checking his watch. 

And, only a minute later, it did. 

As Will watched in awe, the fountain suddenly burst with energy as water shot up into the air, enormous and brilliant. It dropped down, only to start dancing with swirling bursts of water. Golden light reflected off the water, off their eyes, off his grinning face.

He turned his head ready to gush praises only to catch himself when Nico was already watching him. He didn’t even feel embarrassed, just — filled. With what, he wasn’t sure yet. The music was blaring around them, but Will couldn’t keep his words back. 

“Husband,” Will said, looking into Nico’s eyes. “Huh. I’ve always wanted one of those.” 

Nico took Will’s left hand with his own. They stared down at the rings shining, curled around their fingers. Nico squeezed Will’s hand and dipped down to press his lips down onto the ring. Around the metal, Nico’s lips just barely brushed his skin. 

“You have me,” Nico’s voice was as smooth as silk against his skin. “Husband.” 

Will let out a shaky exhale and didn’t let go of Nico’s hand when he pulled back. Will’s gaze shifted away. “Where… where did you find this place?” 

“I saw a poster for it in a window,” he bumped their hips together and slid his hand into Will’s back pocket. “Thought you might like it.” 

“It’s so pretty,” Will breathed out. “It’s so pretty. I love this song.” 

Nico smiled softly, just with the corner of his mouth, hidden. “I love this song, too.”

Just as the music was starting to get going, Will spoke up again. 

“Hey,” he said, grabbing Nico's attention. Will licked his lips, a small seed of soberness growing in his chest, just for a moment. “Do you think we’ll regret this in the morning?” 

Nico exhaled and came up behind him to wrap his arms around Will’s waist. “I don’t know. But I don’t regret it right now, and I don’t think I’ll regret it in an hour.” His hand came up to still Will’s chin so he could lean in to press his lips to Will’s. 

Will pulled away just barely, his breath touching Nico’s. “I can’t imagine regretting you.” 

Nico smiled, so unlike all the heated and wicked grins they’d been exchanging all evening. It was soft and just barely lifting the corners of his lips. It was in his eyes, Will realized, that’s why it was so different. 

Nico’s hands came up, one resting on Will’s hip, the other clasping his palm. He lifted their arms and spun Will in place, grinning as he pulled him back to his chest and swayed to the beat. 

“In other words,” Nico sang softly along with the song, “please be true.” 

“In other words,” Will continued, just as low. “I love you.” 

Even if I don’t remember this, Will thought, staring up at Nico, with the lights and sounds and magic of a late Las Vegas night reflecting off him, let me remember how this feels. 

Thankfully, the crowds weren’t too bad this early in the morning, so they were able to make decent time, especially with Will leading them. They came to a stop and stared ahead of them. 

“The Bellagio Fountain,” Nico’s face screwed up in thought, “we were here last night, weren’t we?” 

Will dragged his gaze back to Nico where it had been lingering on the fountain, a blush on his cheeks. “Um, yeah.” He held up Little Elvis and pointed to a small booth by the hotel’s entrance. “Must be where we got him.”

The booth clerk pointed them to the front desk, where they evidently send all their found lost items. They followed the clerk’s directions, genuinely thankful for the lobby’s air conditioning. 

When it was their turn, Will stepped forward. “Hi, uh, we’re looking for some lost items? That we may have left here last night?”

The receptionist nodded, brisk and polite. “I’d be happy to check the lost and found. Can you describe what you’ve lost?”  

“Uh,” Will gave her an embarrassed smile. “We both kind of lost our phones and wallets. Um, I have an iPhone? With a striped blue case? And a brown leather wallet. My I.D. should be in there.” 

She nodded, no judgment on her face, and listened carefully as Nico described his items. She returned after a few minutes, an item in her hands. 

“My wallet,” Nico said in near reverence, staring at the fold of leather as she approached the desk. “The I.D.’s in the front pocket if you need to check.” 

She glanced at the I.D. then at Nico before nodding. “Here you go, Mr. di Angelo. Have a pleasant day.” 

He took it, slightly numb, and stepped away from the front desk a few feet away. Will sighed, completely, absolutely relieved. 

Excitement and relief began to line Nico’s entire body. “If anything, maybe I can call my credit card to check what hotel we reserved last night?” Nico said as he flipped open his wallet, shifting through. He paused, a bright pink business card corner peeking out of one of the folds. Nico’s breath caught at the sight. 

“Oh my gods,” Nico heaved a great sigh of relief as he slid the card out. “Leo’s a fucking idiot and I love him.” 

Will perked up, instantly interested. “What?” 

Nico shook his head, smiling. “Leo made these stupid cards for his birthday last year.” He held up the card so Will could see. “He gave us each like, ten of them. I kept one as a joke. I completely forgot about it.” 

“If lost, return this person to Jason Grace?” Will read it then lit up. “A phone number!” 

“Jason’s phone number, because Leo was counting on getting trashed and only having a handful of cards to hand out to well-meaning strangers to get home.” Nico let his head fall back. “Wow.” 

Will was grinning widely at the slip of paper, “We’re gonna find our friends.”

“One more thing -” Nico turned back to the receptionist and gave her the most charming smile he could manage. “Do you have a phone we can use?” 

She pointed them over to the public phone and, after sharing a look of relief with Will, typed in the number.  After only a single ring, the line picked up with a swift, “Hello?” 

“Jason,” Nico made a noise of relief, “thank the gods. Wow, is it nice to hear your voice.” 

“Nico!” He exclaimed, “We’ve been looking for you all day! We told everyone to go on with their plans, but I’ve been worried sick! Where are you? Is Will with you? He’s missing too and -” 

“Will’s with me,” Nico said, catching the other man’s eye. “We lost our phones and I just found my wallet. Where are you?” 

Jason rattled off some address that Nico repeated so Will could scrawl it down. 

“We’re safe,” Nico said, because Jason was the type to worry about those kinds of things. “We got too drunk last night and got lost. We’re both fine.” 

Jason let out a short breath. “I was worried.” He admitted.

“Yeah, I know, nerd.” Nico snorted at Jason’s annoyed click of his tongue. “Sit tight. We’re on our way,” Nico said, hanging up. And then, after a quick celebratory hug of relief where Nico ignored how completely fucking gross they both were, they were off. 

-

“Oh my gods,” Leo said the moment he opened the door, “you’re wearing my clothes.”

Nico gave him a dirty look, “And you’re wearing mine, despite having your luggage.” 

Leo grinned at him, “I’ll take any opportunity to get into your pants, di Angelo, you know this.”

Jason, probably at the sound of their voices, burst through the door with an alarmed look on his face. Piper, of course, followed out at a much more leisurely pace. “You guys are okay!” 

Jason threw himself forward to sweep them up in a tight hug. “We were so worried!” 

“Jason was so worried,” Piper corrected him. “I figured di Angelo was scrappy enough to survive at least a day.” She turned to get an obvious eyeful of them both. “Nice crop top, Solace,” Piper grinned, “give us a spin, will you?” 

Since he knew Will would be too nice to do it, Nico flipped her off for him. It was his duty, he thought, as his husband. 

“Are you going to let us in?” Nico asked over Jason’s shoulder, where he was still hugging them both to his chest. He didn’t, but at least he allowed Nico to push out of his tight hug. A mistake, he realized a moment later, as both hands came up to Jason’s chest. 

“Wait,” Leo said with awe in his voice as he caught Nico’s left hand and held it up. “They were telling the truth! I thought they were just drunk!”

Nico snatched his hand back, “ ‘They?’ ”

Jason finally moved aside to let them through into the hotel room, where a small living room area was set up. Mitchell gave them a sleepy wave from his place on the couch where he was picking at a room service sandwich placed on the furniture arm. Inexplicably, Connor’s curls rested in his lap. 

Nico squinted at him. “You’re still here? Didn’t we meet you last night?” 

Leo leaned against the doorframe, amused. “He and Mitchell were dragged back here at like, six in the morning by Clarisse. She just threw them on our couch and went to sleep.” 

Will snorted. “So Clarisse finally caught up to you two?” 

Leo barked out a laugh, his eyes dancing like retelling his story was the highlight of his day. “Apparently, Clarisse burst into their hotel room, I’m still not sure how, and Connor was asleep on the couch while Mitchell was sitting on the ground eating room service cheesecake with his hands.”

“Do you have to mention the cheesecake?” Mitchell muttered into his folded arms. “Just say I had room service. Or a fork.” 

“She then bodily picked up Mitchell, who refused to leave quietly without Connor.” Leo made an excited noise. “So she threw Connor over her other shoulder, came back here, made noise about Piper owing her a favor, then dumped them and left.” 

Piper waved off Leo’s words, “Yes, Clarisse is awesome as hell. But we’re ignoring the important fact here: Nico and Will ran off last night to get married in Vegas.” 

“Good point,” Leo agreed and turned back to Nico. “So? What the fuck?” 

“Good question,” Nico turned to face Connor, “You. Why the hell did you let us get married last night?” 

“Let?” Connor demanded, sitting up. “Let?” 

Nico faced him with an unimpressed expression. “You were clearly the most sober. You should have kept us in check.” 

“Just keeping track of you two, both of whom kept trying to sneak off and make out in corners like teenagers gave me a stress ulcer and I was drunk too!” Connor pointed at them as if accusing them of something. “Also, you guys wanted to Uber to the courthouse at 11 p.m. and get a real certificate before going to the chapel. At least I stopped it!” 

Will’s “wait what -” and Nico’s “go back to that -” was completely overridden by their friends’ reactions. 

Piper barked out a laugh and leaned in. “And we missed this?” 

Jason’s face edged toward disappointment. “I can’t believe you tried to get married without us, Nico. I thought we meant more to you than that.” His eyes were dancing with amusement, that fool. 

Leo looked simply absolutely delighted. “I can’t wait to tell Hazel about this, my gods.” He turned to Connor. “What did you do then? If you didn’t go to the courthouse?”

Connor blew a huff of air into his curls. “I did what any rational person would do. I printed out a fake marriage license in a hotel lobby at midnight for some drunk people I met a few hours before.” He sighed. “Why you guys thought I could produce a real, legally binding certificate from a Hilton, I have no idea, but you were happy enough with it.” 

Leo clapped his hands together. “Wow, you guys are idiots, I love this.”

“Okay, so wait, this,” Nico took out the paper and unfolded it, “is not real?” 

“It’s on printer paper, Nico. The ink started to run out at the bottom.” 

A blush flared up on his cheeks. He and Will shared a bewildered look. “I… didn’t notice that. What about the ceremony? We have a photo from it.” 

Connor waved his hand. “They definitely knew it was a fake certificate, but I slipped them a few bills to make it as real as possible.”

“I wasn’t exactly expecting you guys to run away after you were ‘married,’” Connor made air-quotes around the word, “but I turned around and the waitress said you guys fled and left most of your things behind.”

“Sounds about right,” Will said, a small shrug in place. Connor nodded. 

“So you guys were gone, Mitchell was falling asleep in a restaurant booth, and I had all of your cell-phones,” Connor shrugged, “and I had been drinking myself. So I got Mitchell and I a room at the closest hotel I could find, fell asleep on the couch, and woke up when our door was basically kicked in.”

Mitchell curled his hand around Connor’s arm. “Thanks for taking care of me.” Mitchell laughed, small and embarrassed. “I know I’m... a lot when I drink.”

Connor went red. “It was nothing. Anytime.”

“That’s gay,” Leo whispered too loudly. Piper elbowed him.

Mitchell turned back to them clearing his throat, but made no move to pull away from Connor. “Clarisse, I forgot to ask -” he cocked his head to the side, “how did she find me?”

Piper gave him a dull look. “Sebastian’s on your phone plan, remember? It took a few hours, but after he got back to her, he just had to log onto Find My Friends. Then, it just took some front desk intimidation on her part.” 

“Oh my gods,” Mitchell leaned his head into Connor’s shoulder and hid his face in his shirt. “You told Sebastian?”  

“Sebastian?” Connor asked quietly. 

Mitchell made a face of absolute misery as he sat up. “My brother. He’s gonna hold this over me forever. He’s going to tease you forever about this.” 

Nico had to press down a laugh at Connor’s expression, an odd expression that read oh, you want me to meet your family, oh yeah, I’m completely cool as a cucumber with that and not completely fucking esactic because I’m a normal person with normal feelings or something close. 

“This is hilarious and all,” Will stood, “but I need to take a shower like, months ago. Do one of you have my key?” 

Jason went to retrieve it, as well as Nico’s, from his bag before ushering them both out with a promise their luggage had already been delivered and he would be expecting them back right after. The door clicked after them as they left the room, now with Leo debating the best person to Vegas-marry (Jason and Piper excluded) and was currently weighing the pros and cons of hitching up with Frank. Nico was ecstatic to be gone for that conversation. 

Although, Nico did huff as Mitchell’s voice echoed through the door, something about Frank’s arms. He turned thoughtful as he leaned against the wall, neither of them not yet taking off toward their rooms. “Mitchell and Connor seem pretty attached. Do you think they’ll try and make a go of it?”

“That dude took care of three strangers in Vegas for an entire night because Mitchell tied a cherry stem in his mouth and smiled at him,” Will rolled his eyes, “he’s probably offering to move back with Mitchell and propose right now.” 

Nico barked out a laugh, “A cherry stem? That makes so much more sense now.” 

Will clearly agreed, rolling with eyes with good humor. His expression tilted slightly downwards.

“So that’s a relief, I guess,” Will said, biting his lip. “That we were never married. No annulment or, uh, divorce to worry about.” 

“Yeah,” Nico said, really unable to explain away the slight disappointment in his chest. He shook his head and turned the ring off his finger. “Uh, this is yours.”

“Thanks,” Will slid it back onto his own finger. Vaguely, Nico wondered if the metal was still warm from his own skin. 

“We were good,” Nico grinned suddenly, “at being married.”

Will gave him an amused look. “We weren’t even married in the first place, and even our imaginary marriage only lasted like, 16 hours. And we slept most of it.”

Nico shrugged, unconcerned. “Maybe. But I wouldn’t mind trying it again.” 

“How about a date instead?” Will asked, his gaze flicking away and back. Red filled his cheeks, and his hands were now rolling the ring back and forth between them. 

Nico pretended to think about it before snapping his fingers and grinning. “Can I call you husband during it?” 

“You can call me Will,” he said, matching his grin. “And we’ll see where it goes after that.” 

A thought occurred to Nico. “For our date, what are you doing like, two weeks from now? That Saturday?” 

Will raised an eyebrow. “Oh, the 20th? Nothing much, just running around in a stiff suit for most of the day. I’ve got this wedding to go to.” 

“What a coincidence, me too,” Nico said. “Maybe we should go together.” 

“It’s no Paris, but I guess that’ll do.” Will teased, a lightness to his voice and face. After a few moments, he sighed and dropped his shoulders, a look of relief on his face. “I’m gonna go take a shower and get this goddamn crop top off but -” Will peeked a smile at him, “do you want to order room service later? My room?” 

“We can try, but I doubt Jason’s gonna let us out of his sight,” Nico said. “He’ll probably insist on something stupid like a movie marathon until the group gets back.”

“That sounds nice,” Will said quietly. He leaned in and, before Nico could turn into it, Will pecked him on the cheek and took a step back. “It was nice being married to you, Nico.” 

He said Nico like he had been saying Husband, with a very special capital emphasis, slowly. He could listen to that all day. 

He watched Will retreat down the hall, his hotel card in one hand, and rubbed at where Will’s ring had sat all day. It had left a slight imprint on his skin. He could almost imagine it was still there. 

Huh, he thought, that doesn’t sound too bad.