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Pre-Reveal
Ladybug and Chat Noir only patrolled every other day, since they were both busy with their lives outside of their Miraculouses, but that never stopped Nico from hanging out on the roof of his apartment on his nights off. Most of the time, his insomnia prevented him from sleeping anyway, and he figured that it’d be just his luck that the one time he’s finally out for the night, an akuma would attack.
So every night that he wasn’t on patrol, Nico would wait until Percy, Sally, and Paul had all fallen asleep before pulling the comforter off his bed and dragging it up to the roof. He situated himself in a lounge chair that he’d brought up to the roof for this exact purpose, and wrapping himself up in his blanket.
Most nights, almost every single night actually, nothing happened. Every so often, an akuma would attack, and Nico would be awake to take care of the problem. Once, when Nico was half asleep in his chair, he heard something crash nearby, causing him to practically jump in his seat.
Across the small section of roof, one of his small potted plants had been knocked off the ledge, the pot shattered across the ground with dirt and leaves having been sprayed everywhere. Crouched above the mess with a guilty look on their face was a familiar cat.
“Chat Noir?” Nico asked groggily, rubbing tiredly at his eye.
“Ni--” Chat started, eyes growing wide and eventually letting the sound disappear into a sort of screech. “Uh, hi! Sorry I, uh, broke your plant. And woke you up. Um, shouldn’t you be sleeping inside?”
Nico, instead of answering, asked, “Why are you on my roof?”
“Oh!” Chat exclaimed, looking around at his surroundings. “This is your roof?”
“No,” Nico told him, rolling his eyes, “sometimes I like to change things up a bit and sneak onto the roofs of other people’s buildings and take a nap.”
Chat cracked a grin. “Ladybug and I are supposed to patrol tonight, but he wasn’t at our usual meetup spot, so I figured I’d start looking around on my own.”
Nico cocked his head to the side. “Do you and Ladybug normally patrol on Tuesdays? I’ve never seen either of you come by here, and I’m always here on Tuesdays.”
“What?” Chat asked with a frown. “No, today’s Wednesday. We patrol Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and sometimes Saturdays. It’s Wednesday.”
Nico leaned back in his chair. “Sorry to tell you, Kitty, but today’s Tuesday. I’m thinking your Bug isn’t coming out tonight.”
Chat’s frown melted into more of a pout. His cat ears even seemed to droop a little bit. “Oh. Okay, uh, sorry to bother you, then.”
He turned to leave, but Nico couldn’t bare to see his Kitty looking so upset. “Wait,” he called out, stopping Chat before he jumped off the edge of the roof. “You could hang out here for a little while, if you want.”
Chat looked back at him and grinned. “Thanks, darlin’, but I should probably let you get back to sleep. School tomorrow, right?”
“Right, yeah,” Nico responded. “But...next time you mess up patrol?” He shrugged. “Come hang out here. I don’t usually sleep well, anyway. Some company would be nice, sometimes.”
Chat’s grin stretched, like Nico had just given him the best gift he’d ever received, and said, “Will do, darlin’. I’ll see you around.”
An akuma appeared in the middle of the school during lunch. Thankfully, Nico had been able to get away quickly to transform, but when came back out into the common area, the akuma had Percy and Jason cornered, while the rest of the students ran around screaming.
Nico threw his yoyo, wrapping it around one of the akuma’s claws, but ended up being yanked off his feet. He tried landing a hit against the monster, distracting it long enough for Percy and Jason to sneak away. Unfortunately, that meant that the akuma’s focus stuck on him, swiping a claw across his face and pinning him against the wall. Nico wondered for half a second if his Miraculous would prevent him from dying somehow, but then the akuma’s grip released and the creature was knocked away.
Nico looked over to see Will Solace standing a few feet away with a fire extinguisher in his hands, having just used the metal as a weapon against the akuma.
Will dropped the fire extinguisher and jumped to Nico’s side, hand reaching up to brush at Nico’s cheek, right under the sore spot that Nico knew had to hold a pretty nasty cut.
“Ladybug, are you alright?” Will asked.
Nico’s eyes widened. “Fine!” he said, too loud and too fast, and he hated the hurt look that appeared on Will’s face because of it. “I’m fine. You-- You need to get out of here!”
“But I can help!” Will told him, stepping back and picking up the fire extinguisher once more. “Whatever you need me to do, I’ll do it!”
Nico glanced over at the akuma, now making its way across the commons to its next victim, before looking back to Will. “I need you to get somewhere safe, away from here. Take as many people with you as you can. Okay?”
Will’s hurt expression made a comeback for approximately two seconds before his face set in determination, nodding his head at Nico. “Right. Anything for you, Ladybug.”
Nico watched Will hurry in the other direction, finally dragging his gaze away when he figured Will had reached a safe distance from the akuma.
He took a breath, willing the burning he felt in his cheeks to lessen, before muttering to himself, “Where’s that stupid cat?” and running at the akuma.
Post-Reveal
Nico was afraid that knowing each other’s identities would make classes weird, but not much seemed to change. If anything, classes were easier. Nico didn’t try to hide his smiles from Will anymore, and he was able to make eye contact for more than a few seconds. However, it seemed that being back in the same room as Jason and Piper had tricked his mind to revert back to his shy nature that always took over when Will was around.
He was better, that was for sure, and Jason had even asked him a few times what had changed overnight, but Nico didn’t know what kind of answer to give him, so he just didn’t.
He caught himself turning around in his seat more and more often to listen to what Will was saying, or to jump in on the conversation, though he didn’t notice how often he would brush the hair out of his eyes because it would get in the way when he whipped his head around.
Finally, after about the twentieth time Will had watched Nico tuck the hair behind his ear, he offered, “You should tie your hair back, then it wouldn’t keep getting in your face.”
Nico’s cheeks started heating up and Will wiggled his eyebrows at him. “I don’t have anything to tie it back with,” Nico told him, rolling his eyes.
“Ooh!” Piper cried. “I do!” She reached into her backpack, pulling out a pink scrunchie and offering it to Nico.
He scrunched up his nose at the sight. “Do I have to?”
“Yes,” Piper insisted.
When Nico still hesitated, Will said, “C’mon, it’ll be cute.”
Nico narrowed his eyes at him, but couldn’t maintain eye contact for more than a few seconds. He glanced away, trying to hide the growing heat on his face as he pulled his hair back into a tiny ponytail, tying it back with the scrunchie.
He was tempted to turn back to Will, eyelashes fluttering as he asked, “How do I look?” but the teacher interrupted him before he could, announcing loudly that class was beginning.
Will leaned forward just as Nico had focused fully on the teacher at the front of the class, whispering in his ear, “Hey, you should come over tonight so we can finish that project.”
Nico looked at him out of the corner of his eye. “Um, yeah, sure.”
“Great!” Will told him, already leaning back into his seat.
For the rest of the class period, Piper had to watch as Will, with his chin propped up in his hand, smiled down at Nico in front of him, completely ignoring every word the teacher said and not writing down a single note.
Will stopped Nico before he could leave the school grounds when school ended later that day. “So what time do you want to come over later?” Will asked, bouncing lightly on his toes.
Nico scratched at the back of his neck. “Uh, I don’t know? What time do you want me to come over?”
“Well, I thought that maybe you could come over after patrol, but I guess that is kind of late, so beforehand, probably?” Will started, almost seeming to be talking to himself. He paused, eyes widening and smile growing as he got an idea. “Or you could spend the night! I don’t think I’ve ever had a sleepover before, you could just stay at my house after patrol! What do you think?”
Nico had sort of shrunk away as Will spoke, startled by the pure enthusiasm radiating from the boy in front of him. “I--” he started before taking a breath and starting again. “I’ll have to ask Sally, but it should be okay.”
Will frowned. “Sally?”
“I’ll tell you later,” Nico told him with a shake of his head. He held out a hand. “Can I have your phone?”
Will fished the device out of his pocket, unlocking the screen before handing it over. “Yeah, why?”
“I’m giving you my phone number,” Nico answered simply. “So now you can text me what time I should come over, and I can tell you if Sally said I can or not.”
Will took the phone back when Nico offered. “Cool. Okay. I’ll text you.”
Nico smiled softly. “Cool. I’ll see you later.”
Nico showed up to their patrol with a backpack slung over one shoulder.
Immediately, Will’s face broke out into a wide grin. “Are you spending the night?”
“Yeah, Sally said it’s okay,” Nico answered, unable to keep a slight smile off his own face.
Will started bouncing on his toes again, like he’d done outside the school. “Okay, okay, so what if, instead of doing our patrol tonight, we just skip it and go back to my house?”
Nico laughed softly. “You’re really excited about this, aren’t you?”
“I told you! I’ve never had a sleepover before!”
Nico scanned the horizon for a short moment before turning back to Will. “I guess it would be okay if we missed just one patrol.”
“Really?” Will asked. “Awesome! Okay, follow me--”
“I’ve been to your house before, Will,” Nico reminded him.
Will nodded. “Right, of course. Okay, I’ll see you there soon,” he said, and he jumped off the edge of the roof.
Nico arrived to Will’s house at least a full minute after Will, easily swinging in through the open window and landing softly in the center of the room.
“Beautiful,” Will told him. “Graceful. Ten out of ten.”
Nico rolled his eyes. “Shut up,” he said with a smile.
“What do you want to do first?” Will asked. “I know I said we’d finish that project for school, but we should also watch some movies and play some video games and maybe order pizza--”
Nico paused, releasing his transformation to reveal an old t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants and stepping closer to Will. He reached up to scratch behind one of Will's cat ears. “You know, for a pretty kitty, you sure are acting like an overexcited puppy.”
Will froze, no longer lightly bouncing in place, and said, “You think I’m pretty?”
Nico’s mouth opened before closing again. “That’s--”
“I think you’re pretty, too,” Will told him, cheeks beginning to heat up. “I’m gonna go change into pajamas and then we can play some video games, okay?”
“You don’t put on pajamas before you transform?” Nico asked.
“I usually forget, okay?” Will released his transformation before stepping back and heading to his dresser to grab a change of clothes. “I’ll be right back. Make yourself at home.”
Nico plopped down onto the couch as Will made his way into the adjacent bathroom to change his clothes. Nico noticed that Will had laid out a few video games on the table in front of the couch, as well as a few different movies. Nico picked up one of the game cases looking it over and holding it up for Will when he reentered the room. “What do you think,” Nico started, “about starting the night off easy with a couple rounds of Mario Kart?”
Will dropped onto the couch next to him, definitely closer than he needed to be, but Nico didn’t mind. “Yeah, sure,” he answered. “But, um, I wanted to ask about, uh--”
“Sally?” Nico asked.
“Yeah,” Will confirmed. “If you’re okay with that?”
Nico shrugged. “It’s fine. My parents and sister died in a car accident when I was younger. I would’ve been with them, but I wanted to spend the night at Percy’s house - you know Percy, my cousin? Sally’s my aunt, but she’s been my guardian since the accident, so almost seven years.”
“Oh,” Will said quietly. “I’m sorry. You didn’t have to--”
“If I didn’t want to, I wouldn’t have,” Nico told him. “I trust you, Will. It’s fine. Let’s play some Mario Kart.”
They ended up playing a few different video games, and Will had run downstairs at one point to steal some snacks out of the kitchen. Once Nico started yawning as he leaned against Will’s shoulder, Will decided to put on a movie and let it play in the background in case they fell asleep.
Nico’s eyes stayed on the screen, but Will could tell that he wasn’t really watching. Will wrapped his arm around Nico’s shoulders. “You know, it’s pretty impressive - and also kind of offensive, honestly - how you can look really good in both a skin-tight suit and super baggy sweatpants.”
Nico propped his chin up on Will’s shoulder, smiling tiredly up at him. “I look good in everything, Kitty.”
Will pressed a kiss to the tip of Nico’s nose. “That you do, Bugaboo.”
Nico hummed, eyes slipping shut and rubbing his cheek against Will’s shoulder.
“If you wanna go to bed, that’s okay,” Will told him, burying his nose in Nico’s hair.
“‘M good here,” Nico mumbled, and fell asleep nearly a minute later.
Will took a few minutes to consider whether he should stay where he was or carry Nico over to his bed and let him sleep there. Eventually, Will decided that he was too tired to move and remained where he was, falling asleep just as the end credits of the movie began to scroll down the screen in front of him.
When Nico woke up, he first noticed that his pillow was moving under him. The next thing he noticed was that, while he normally couldn’t get comfortable sleeping on his stomach, that’s exactly how he was. He felt fingers starting to brush through his hair.
Nico lifted his head, realizing that the reason his pillow was moving was because it wasn’t a pillow at all, but instead Will’s stomach.
Nico rested his chin on Will’s stomach, eyes half open, blinking tiredly at the other boy.
“Good morning,” Will whispered, fingers still running against Nico’s scalp. “Your hair fell out of the scrunchie while you were asleep. A shame, really, but now I have proof that you’re literally pretty all the time.”
Nico turned his face down into Will’s stomach. “Shut up,” he said, voice muffled by Will’s shirt. “I’m too tired for this.”
“Hey, Bugaboo?” Will asked softly, and Nico looked up hesitantly. “You know I like you more than just because you’re pretty, right?”
“Yeah,” Nico told him, eyes slipping shut, “it’s ‘cause we’re superheroes together.”
“Well, almost,” Will said. “I like you for you, too. I like you for Nico, and I like you for Ladybug, who are two surprisingly different people, but I like you, Bugaboo.”
Nico cracked an eye open. “How do you mean?”
“C’mon, Lovebug, haven’t I been kind of obvious?” Will asked. “If I just wanted to be friends, then I feel like everything I’ve ever done since I met you has been kind of weird. Considering I’ve been flirting with you since day one, and if I were straight I’d probably be uncomfortable with the position we’re in right now.”
Nico lifted himself up slightly, sliding himself forward until he and Will were practically nose to nose. “Good thing you’re not straight, then.”
Will’s hands were still playing with Nico’s hair. “Yeah. Good thing.” He stared into Nico’s eyes for a few moments, as if waiting for the other boy to make the first move. Finally, Will asked, “Can I kiss you?”
Nico rolled his eyes. “I’ve only been waiting for you to ask since, like, Valentine’s Day or whenever.”
“That’s a yes, right?”
Nico closed the distance between them.