*Spongebob guy* One year later (ish)*

Nico never stopped missing Bianca after she went to live with the Yongs. He felt a special connection with her, however cheesy it sounded. He had carried her for almost a year, and he had held her, if only once. Even though she looked more like Will than him, he could still see the resemblance. 

How did he know what she looked like?

The picture his father had given him at Christmas the year before she was born. After she left Camp, the photo... updated? After, it then contained Will, Nico, and a baby in their arms. Now, she just over a year old. And Nico hated himself for giving her up. He had been through Tartarus by himself, yet somehow this seemed to hurt even more. 

Will hurt too. Looking back, he realized that they could have done it. They could have raised her. And they would have been happy. As a family. Piper and Jason had done it. Leo and Calypso were great parents. Even Frank and Hazel were expecting their first child. Nico had cried when they told everyone. 

Cecil and Lou Ellen had been upset that they hadn't gotten to spoil their best friend's kid, and Hazel had wanted to be the 'cool aunt'. But it was gone. They had thrown it away. He kept telling himself that they had done the right thing, that she was safer in the mortal world, that she could live a normal life. That was something that he had wished for as a child many times. 

But selfishly, or maybe just because he thought he knew better, he wanted her back. He wanted to turn back time and be there for her first words, her first steps, her first proper giggle. He wanted to hold her hand and blow raspberries at her tummy. Do all the things he wanted as a child. Give her the father figure he never had. 

After Bianca left their lives, Nico and Will drifted apart a bit. They still went on dates, and they both loved each other the same, if not more, but there was less meaning to their relationship. 

They had their first couple fight. It ended in tears and makeup sex. And after that, they sort of found purpose again. They started wondering if they could get her back. But after a while, they gave up. It was almost impossible. The Yongs had legal custody of her, and they weren't giving her up any time soon. They accepted the fact that she was gone, and that there was little chance of her coming back. 

•🌌•

About two months after Bianca turned one, Chiron gave the Greek friends of Hazel and Frank leave to go to New Rome for a sort of anniversary party for Hazel and Frank, as well as a pre-birth gathering kind of event. Nico and Will were thankful for the distraction and gladly came. 

At about 10 pm, all the couples with children -Percy and Annabeth, Piper and Jason, Leo and Calypso and Hazel and Frank left. But Nico didn't notice. He was already slightly tipsy, but when someone yelled that kids were gone, the party cranked up a notch. He didn't know what he was doing. He was dancing and drinking more than he ever had. Because really, there was nothing to loose anymore.

Nico took another glass of wine and pushed further into the middle of the dance floor. He wasn't even really sure what he was dancing to. The lights were blurring together, and the smell of alcohol and sweat was thick in the air. Someone came up behind him, and they danced together, hips grinding to the beat. The mystery man - for he clearly was a man due to the solid attachment now rubbing up Nico's thigh - began kissing his neck and shoulders. Nico was too lost in the intoxicating buzz of alcohol and the steady thrum of music and his own blood in his ears to notice that the man kissing him did not smell of open fields, Calpol and long summer days. Because, Nico realised when a hand made its was lower than his hip, the man he was dancing with was not Will. He pushed away and stumbled through the crowd of bodies. He might have been drunk, but he was not going to cheat on his Will. He fell against a wall and hissed in pain when his hip caught a door nob. He fumbled with it for a while before he managed to wrestle it open and lurch out of the stuffy, pulsating room.

Gasping for fresh air, Nico stumbled onto the balcony, the railing the only thing preventing him from tumbling off the edge. He leant against the bar and rested his throbbing head on his sweaty, clammy arms. He breathed deeply and slowly, his head a fuzzy haze.

He didn't hear the door open behind him, or hear it click shut again softly a moment later. He didn't feel someone come and stand beside him in silence. But he did notice the soothing hand rubbing his back in a gentle, circular motion that was a familiar feeling to him.

"Will" he croaked out, not caring how appalling his voice must sound. He flung himself at his boyfriend, hugging him tightly and burying his his face deep into his chest and inhaling the scent he'd come to love.

Very unexpectedly, Nico began to cry. Deep ragged sobs shook his body, and he couldn't get control of himself. Will just held him and stroked his hair in a calming manner and waited patiently. After about five minutes, Nico was left hiccuping occasionally - wether from the tears or the wine, Will couldn't tell - and drawing a shuddering breath every once and a while. Will gently pried his lover off of him and pushed back the black hair plastered to his face.

"Shall we go home now, love?" Will asked very softly and calmly. Nico nodded, not trusting his cracked throat. Gently, Will lead him back into the crowded room, out of the building and down the street, back towards the little flat-like set of rooms that they had called home for about a week. Nico, tired, drunk and upset as he was, needed a glass of water, and some rest. So Will helped him undress, change, get him a glass of water, held his hair back while he threw up violently in the toilet bowl, and finally, helped him into bed. All without saying a word.

Once he was sure that Nico was safely in bed, Will himself changed and came back into the bedroom. Before he could get in, however, he heard Nico mumble:

"Will... I... I need you." Sighing calmly, Will got into bed. Immediately, Nico latched onto him, and so they may, clutched to each others bodies. Until, suddenly, Nico began to shake. Not from cold. Not from fear. But because he was crying again. Wordlessly, Will held him, kissing him softly and trailing his hand up and down the ridge of Nico's spine. He shivered at the touch, but made no move to stop him.

Soon after, Nico's tears ceased to fall, and they lay in silence, unable to sleep. Nico clung to to Will as though he were his anchor to sanity. Perhaps he was. "Will" Nico's throat was as dry as his cheeks were wet with tears. "I" he breathed, the word barely a whisper. "Please. Take me. Will, I... I need this" Nico pleaded. Will looked into his eyes. But in that moment, there was no drunken passion. No needy forgiveness. It was just... Nico.

*SMUT WARNING!*

That night was a night of humanity. It held all raw human emotions: lust, passion, empathy, longing and desire. A night of release. An affirmation of their true love for one another.