Nico was late. Hopelessly, spectacularly late and no amount of staring up at the hill and chewing his lip raw was going to change that.

Will looked behind him, at where the sun was beginning to sink below the horizon line, and sighed disdainfully. So much for romantically watching the sunset together, he looked down at the rose in his hand. So much for any of it, really.

It was several seconds of emotions bubbling in his chest (self-pity, anger, first at Nico, then himself, a sense of of course that was worse than any of it) and trying to shove them down, before he let out a frustrated shout, turned abruptly, and chucked the rose into the ocean. It landed fifteen feet out and disappeared under a wave within seconds. Will felt suddenly drained of energy, so he plopped unceremoniously onto the sand and pulled his knees up to his chest so that he could rest his head on them.

The sound of the waves lapping against the sand was steady and sure, so he closed his eyes and tried to match his breathing to it.

Ssshhhh, the ocean said, and he had a sudden, vivid memory of his mother soothing him as a child, running her fingers through his hair. He remembered that she had brown hair and sad eyes.

Ssshhhh, one breath in, one breath out.

Ssshhhh, don't cry.

Will wanted to cry. He wanted to fold in on himself, let the humiliation consume him--

Ssshhhh. Deep breath in. Let it back out.

He was there when the sun finally disappeared, and he whispered a half-hearted goodbye to his father, smiling just a bit.

It was minutes or seconds later when a soft thudding noise joined the sounds of the ocean and Will felt someone sit down next to him. Tentatively, like they were reconsidering the whole way down.

"Hey," Nico breathed, and Will squeezed his eyes tighter, hugged his legs closer.

Ssshhhh, ssshhhh.

"Hey." He didn't look up to meet his gaze. His voice sounded too weak.

Nico was quiet and the wind was holding its breath, or maybe that was Will. It felt like a pressure was weighing down on his chest.

"Will..."

Will forced a laugh, "Yeah, that's my name, di Angelo."

Nico never responded and Will had too much time to dwell on his thoughts, so he said, "You know, you could have just said no." He regretted it. Wanted to snatch the words right out of the air.

"No, Will, I didn't... I wanted to say yes."

Will finally lifted his head and looked Nico in the eye, huffing out a single sarcastic laugh, "Yeah, you wanted to be here so badly that you didn't come at all."

Nico flinched, muttered feebly, "I'm here now."

Will's lips were twitching because he couldn't decide what he wanted to do with them. Scream or snarl or curse or laugh, maybe kiss. Any one of them would be violent and end in pain, so he flattened them into a line and sat still.

Nico looked out across the ocean, his face an unreadable mass of question marks, and blew out a long breath. "I just freaked out... and I know... I know it was stupid. I just... It seemed like the only answer right then. I was being selfish. Didn't even..."

"What do you mean you freaked out?" Now Will was caught in between wanting to pull him close and wanting to run away. Close the distance or put it between them.

Nico looked at him hopelessly, "I was so nervous. I was... I couldn't stop imagining all of the ways I could screw up and I... I just screwed things up anyway. I always mess things up, Solace."

"Nico..." Will breathed, exasperated, but not angry anymore. His fingers brushed over Nico's cheek, they were shaking, "You don't screw up half as much as you think you do."

Nico laughed, but it was a sad sound. "How can you say that?"

"Because I still want to kiss you."

Nico cracked a smile, reached out to twist a piece of Will's hair around his finger, "Then you're insane, Will. Batshit crazy."

And Will grinned, the ocean said, ssshhh, ssshhh, (don't hold on too tight, you're falling, it's okay) and he reached up to disentangle Nico's fingers from his hair so that he could tug him back onto the sand next to him. "That's because you drive me crazy."

"You're a sap." Nico's breath was warm on his cheek.

"Sssshhh," Will said along with the ocean, "Look at the stars."

"You're just proving my point." He was smiling and he also turned his head to the sky.

Will felt a subtle twinge of victory and hummed contentedly, reaching over to tangle his fingers with Nico's. The entire universe was spread out above them, spinning. The constellations were smiling down at two boys falling, falling, falling. "Did you know that the Big Dipper is always visible from New York?" He turned his head as he said it to find that Nico was already looking at him.

Will laughed, "You're not even looking at the stars anymore."

Nico turned onto his side to reach out and run a thumb across Will's cheek, across his freckles, "Yeah, I was."

"Who's the sap now?" Will's voice was a bit hoarse, he blamed it on seasalt. (It was really because Nico was pushing himself up onto his elbow, the fingers of that hand still tangled with Will's, his others were brushing hair out of his face.)

"You, obviously," he whispered, and traced a line along Will's cheek and then his jaw.

"Oh, yeah?" Will's hand lifted to cup the back of Nico's neck.

A smirk was tugging on his lips, "Yeah."

"So..." Will brushed his thumb along his hairline.

Nico's smile widened. Seeing him smile was everything Will ever wanted. (Making him smile was even better.) "So..." His fingers skipped over Will's lips, barely brushing. Uncharted territory. He leaned down to map them out with his mouth, with his tongue.

Will's fingers knotted in the hair at the base of his skull, Nico tightened his grip on his hand, pressed his other palm against his cheek.

Ssshhh, ssshhh.

"This is so much better than watching the stars."

"Shut up, Solace."

Will pulled him closer.