Just Solangelo Things

Home Is Where the Heart Is

thanks to @MtkaSwimmer for this prompt!

...

"Nico." Will calls for the hundredth time, pulling the boy toward him by the waist. "You look beautiful. So come on, I promised her I'd be there by 5:00."
Nico sighs, finally stepping away from the mirror. "Are you sure? I didn't get much sleep last night-" he cuts off in a gasp. "I've got bags under my eyes!"

Will chuckles, reaching up his hands to cup his cheeks and leaning down to peck each eyelid. "There. Now can we go?" Nico rolls his eyes, smiling, "Fine. Did you pack the-"

"Yes darlin'," Will interrupts, guiding him toward the door where two small suitcases were placed by the door. "I packed the toothbrushes."
"And-"
"And the socks, and the brushes, and the chargers." Will picks up a suitcase in each hand. "Stop worrying, love. You triple checked last night."

Nico smiles sheepishly, nearly swooning as Will easily carries the luggage to the car waiting outside, his biceps showing against the white v-neck he was wearing.
He quickly follows after him, sitting down in the passenger side of the borrowed camp minivan.

Will gets in after him, setting two coffee cups down in the cupholders and setting his hands on the wheel, carefully backing out of the parking spot next to the other camp minivans. "Got you some tea from the breakfast table. Lots of sugar to recharge."

Nico hums, pulling on the seatbelt and reminding Will to do so as well. They drive through the trees a while, on a cleared dirt path.
After a few minutes, the trees get thicker and the path is more shaded from the sun. The car slows down, and Will reaches for his hand. "Ready?"
Nico looks ahead at the cleared area of shadow from the trees. "Ready."

Nico closes his eyes, and thinks of the roads, with prairie stretching for miles and miles of sight. The low hum of the engine and Will's hand keeping him grounded. He feels a rush of air and then...

He opens his eyes to the car on a single lane road, stretching back all the way to the horizon line. The car slows to a stop, and Will's hands are immediately on his forehead. "Nauseous?"

Nico shakes his head. That was a relief. It wasn't rare for him to get sick after shadow traveling. A cup is raised to his lips. "Drink this for me, yeah?"
Nico gratefully takes large gulps of the sugary drink, feeling a little less droopy.

"You can sleep for a while babe. I'll wake you up when we get there." Will runs his thumb over his knuckles. "I'm so sorry. Are you sure you're okay? I hate asking you to shadow travel for us."
Nico puts another of his small hands on top of Will's huge one. "S'kay."
He yawns, and falls asleep.

...

He wakes to Will patting his cheek lightly. "Wake up kitten."
Nico bats at his hand, grumbling. "We're home!" he singsongs. Nico sighs, stretching in his seat and leaning into Will's hand on his cheek. It takes a few minutes for him to come back to himself, and Will carefully helps him out of the minivan.

They've arrived at a worn down, two story house, complete with a mailbox out front and a porch leading to the door. The paint is peeling, shackles falling, but it was the spitting image of the word "home".

The sun was just beginning to set, making the sky a brilliant pink, casting over miles and miles of dry land. Will smiles fondly at him, and takes his hand. "You look like you've never seen a sunset." he chuckles, taking him to the porch where two suitcases are already waiting. "Now, ma gets a little... handsy, but she means well. Alright?"

With that, he knocks on the door, and immediately it opens to an older woman, with crinkles by her eyes and a well rounded waist. She looks like what he imagines a mother to be.

"Will!" She grabs Will by the arm, pulling him into a death-grip... hug. "And who's this?" She grabs Nico next.
She pats his waist, "a bit too thin- William, are you feeding this poor boy?" his hands, "beautiful hands oh, do you play an instrument?" his head, "this one's a small one." and lastly, she pinches his cheeks, "aw, sweetheart- look at this precious child I-"

"Ma." Will interrupts, chuckling. "I think you're squeezing him a little too tight."
She shouts a laugh, finally letting Nico scurry into Will's arms, his eyes wild in panic. "You've got yourself a pretty boy there, Will."
Nico blushes, turning his head into Will's broad chest, feeling the vibration when he laughs along. "Don't I know it."

...

Dinner is a traumatic experience for the Solangelo couple. After dinner, seconds, narrowly turned down thirds, and the feared dessert, Will had finally gotten his mother to recede back into her bedroom, while he took Nico on her pick up truck to a nearby clearing.

They stopped at a place where the land disappeared into the night sky, twinkling stars shining as bright as the moon. They get off, and Will leads him to the back of the pickup truck, where Will had secretly brought an air mattress, pillows, and lots blankets. Nico smiles as Will picks him up and helps him climb the back, both breathless as they lay down facing the sky.

"You know," Nico starts, and Will props himself up on his elbow to face him. "I wish... I wanted to take you to my home someday." His voice hushes down to a whisper, and Will puts a reassuring hand on his arm. "We would've had dinner at our- me and Bianca and Madre's house- it's huge, almost, like, a Victorian mansion, and she would've made us my favorite soup- I would've helped, and then I would've taken you to my favorite gelato shop, and gone stargazing on this hill, and- and," Nico cuts off in a little sigh.
"I miss home sometimes."

Will frowns, inching closer and taking the other boy in his arms, like how they sleep together every night; Will as the big spoon and Nico as the little spoon.
"You might have lost that home," he leans over to kiss him behind the ear. "but now you've got this one."

And at that moment, with the one he loves most, in an old, worn down truck that belongs to said loved one's mother, whose house they're staying in for the weekend, and under these millions of stars, at this exact second,
Nico couldn't have felt more at...

Well, for the lack of a better word,

Home.