Solangelo One Shots (fluff)

Story LXVI

!WARNING! brief mention of alcohol addiction, super brief I swear. Also mortal AU.

Hades loved his son so very dearly. There was nothing Nico could do to make him stop loving or supporting him.

He wished Nico knew that.

Nico had not had an easy childhood and Hades wished he could have been there for him more, regretting the way he hardly saw his son for the first twelve years of his life.

But Hades had been struggling with alcohol and after Maria kicked him out, not wanting him to see their children until he was clean and sober, It took him too long to clean himself up.

So, when Nico was thirteen and his mother and sister died in a car accident, leaving Nico with no living relatives, Hades worked hard to become sober and work for the custody of his son.

And he got it, he got his son and got himself cleaned up and he couldn't be more proud of himself or of Nico.

That kid had been through way too much so early in life and Hades worked hard to make it up to him, to let him know he was loved and that he deserved to be happy.

And now, many years later, Nico had become the man every father could possibly want their son to be. He was kind, crafty, and so caring. No matter how many walls he had built up, he cared so deeply for those around him, for his friends and the family he had left. He was smart, got into his dream college on the first try and was passing all of his classes.

Nico lived on campus, but visited Hades every other month and on the months he didn't visit, Hades would visit him.

Nico also had a roommate. A roommate that Hades was beginning to believe wasn't just a "friend". The boy's name was Will, he was tall and supportive and very nice. Hades almost hoped they were together, Will would be good for him, he thought.

Nico had never come out as gay to Hades, he never dated when he was in high school and Hades never thought much of it.

And when Nico came to stay with Hades during winter break and asked if Will could come along, Hades couldn't have been more delighted.

There were times that led Hades to believe his suspicions to be correct. Occasionally he would catch them holding hands if they were watching a movie, the lights down they thought Hades wouldn't notice.

Another time, when he stepped into the living room, he saw them shifting awkwardly as they sat on the couch, their faces flushing and bodies at an angle as though they had just been kissing.

There were also times when Will would slip up, calling Nico "sunshine" or "babe" and Hades pretended not to notice, not wanting to make them uncomfortable. He played it off as though he didn't even hear it, continuing on.

One morning when Hades was about to leave to go to the store to grab some ingredients for Christmas dinner, he cracked open his son's door, wanting to let him know he would be out of the house. To his knowledge, Will slept in the guest room and Nico in his old bedroom, but when he peered past the door, the light from the sun between the blinds the only source of light, he saw his son and Will, curled up and sleeping peacefully, tangled in each other's arms.

He paused for a moment before smiling gently and closing the door as softly behind him as possible. As he drove to the grocery store, he racked his brain on ideas that he could possibly use to bring up the topic of them dating. He wanted them both to be as comfortable as possible in his house, and he doubted they liked sneaking around.

So when he got home, setting the groceries on the kitchen counter top, he called for Nico to help him put away the food.

"Everything go okay?" Nico asked as he unloaded the frozens into the freezer.