Solangelo oneshots

#5 (AU)

Tw: slight mentions of cutting and suicide
Nico PoV:

"Hey, honey, is that the last box?"

My husband of ten years looked up, still looking as hot as the day I met him. His grin still sent tingles down my spine better than any ASMR.

"Yes neeks, that was the last box."

"Good. That's, what, ten boxes for clothes worn by four children? Not too bad."

"You're forgetting about the toys and other assorted shit. That adds about seven more to the pile."

"Damnit," I swore. Will laughed it off and started to unfold some collapsible tables. I moved to help him, skirting around the cardboard boxes. The flaps were well worn, so many of them flipped open as soon as the box on top of them had been moved.

"At least Bianca wore through her clothes so fast that we had to throw them away. Without her we'd have five more boxes."

"More like ten."

I picked up the box marked '5T- girls' and set it on one of the tables. Each article of clothing was neatly folded, courtesy of yours truly. If it were up to Will, each piece would have been thrown in haphazardly, causing wrinkles, and I can't stand that. Plus, if you fold it, more clothes can fit in.

"Hey, Will, come here!" I called.

He dropped the box he was carrying and walked over. "That was the dress Maria wore for her kindergarten graduation!" He picked up the worn yellow dress. The sheer pink ribbon around the waist, with the ends joined by a flower, had a couple holes in it, but the dress was in good condition overall.

"Each girl was so excited to wear this dress. I guess Maria got Bianca anticipating it."

"Yeah, but Michael and Lee treated that dress as if it were a disease."

I had to laugh at that, causing Will to shoot me a sly smile my way. I laid the dress on the table and kept going through the box. Lots of Bianca and Maria's clothes didn't bring back any particular memories, but they were still cute. I found a pink and white striped long-sleeved shirt with a skull on it from Bianca's long lasting obsession with Monster High. Another shirt had our favorite football team on it, because Will was obsessed with the sport and bought the shirt for Maria.

"Hey neeks! I found Lee's old Sesame Street shirt!"

Will must have been going through the boys' clothes, because he held up a ragged red t-shirt emblazoned with the Sesame Street characters. Half of Big Bird was missing because Lee didn't like that character.

"Ah, the days before Lee became an emo child like me."

Will chuckled a bit at that. "Yeah, but there's still hope that Michael will end up like me. Then again, all four of the kids are adopted, so if they're the same as us that's kind of weird."

"Yeah."

We worked in silence after that, going into a working rhythm. No clothes jumped out at us for a while. I had found some of the girls' onesies from when they were toddlers, but that wasn't enough to make me call out to Will again. We were both tiring fast though; setting up a garage sale is hard work.

"Neeks, let's go in and take a break. I'm old."

I let out a relieved breath and went into the house. "Honey, will you make lemonade? I'm thirsty."

"As long as you help me!"

We raced though the living room to get to the kitchen. Immediately, Will pulled out the lemons, so I grabbed the sugar and a pitcher. He started squeezing out the lemon juice, taking his time getting whatever he could out of the lemons. I snaked my hands around his waist, earning a contented hum. I'm much shorter than him, so my head rested between his shoulder blades.

"Honey, I need to get to the sugar now."

I tightened my grip on him, letting out a muffled "no." He sighed, and reached over to the sugar. His beautiful arms stretched out wide to get the sugar, and he barely was able to move it. Thankfully, the measuring cups were in a drawer right beside us, so he pulled out the proper one and poured in the sugar.

Somehow, we finished making the drink and poured it into cups. There was enough for the kids too, so when they got home they could have some. Well, at least the girls and Michael were gone. Lee was upstairs, probably blasting Slipknot in his earbuds.

Will and I sat down at the kitchen table, sipping lemomade out of our very mature glasses. We were silent for a bit, letting the cool drink hydrate our dry mouths.

"Do you ever think back to when we first knew each other?" Will asked out of the blue.

"Sometimes."

"Remember when we used to sneak away from camp activities just to make out?"

Oh, those memories were sweet. Camp Half-blood, named for the campers being "half animal", was a huge part of my childhood. Apparently the camp director, Chiron, believed that kids deserved to be wild, so he created the camp. He even told the kids that under his wheelchair blanket he had the body of a horse.

"Yeah! Oh, and when you would get really competitive during capture the flag? One time you distracted me by starting a make out session with me, remember?"

He laughed. "I remember that alright. I also know it happened twice. You enjoyed them, I see your blush!"

He was right. My face is basically a giant tomato at this point. I had to get back at him, and quick.

"Yeah, so? Ooh, and don't forget when you sprinted over to my cabin that one time so you would get caught by the cleaning ladies. You looked so scared then, I almost felt sympathetic."

"And later that night you woke up screaming and I cuddled you until you fell asleep. You missed that part."

I scooted over my rolly chair and leaned into him. He was so warm, so comforting. His arm wrapped around my shoulders, pulling me in closer. Lips brushed my ear as he whispered.

"I love you."

"I love you t-"

"Dads! You two are so cheesy. Anyways, I need help with my math. Can either one of you help?" Lee stood on the stairs, staring down at us with an almost-glare that couldn't fight his small smile.

"Yes, Lee. I'll help you." Will stood up. "I'll be right back."

I waved him off. "Just go."

They bounded up the stairs together, looking so happy it made my heart sing. I both loved and hated our nostalgic moments. Sure, they were cute and fun, but it still brought back bad memories that I had never told anyone. Like the capture the flag game where he pulled me over. Just two hours before I had nearly pulled out the camp's backup security guns and used it on myself. Or the time when I nearly cut myself right before Will walked in. He's probably saved my life.

God, I love that boy.