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Will leaves the door to his apartment propped open while he carries in his groceries. He’s on the first floor, not far from the front door, and it’s a good complex. He isn’t worried about anyone stealing stuff.
Once all the groceries are inside, he kicks the door closed and turns around. There’s a black cat sitting on the counter, staring expectantly at him.
“Hey, kitty,” Will says, heading for the fridge to put stuff away. He freezes with his hand still on the door and turns back around. The cat is still there. He doesn’t have a cat. “Um. Hello.”
The cat stands up, tail flicking, still staring at him. He can’t remember ever seeing this cat before but then cats are usually shut up in their owner’s apartments, not freely roaming the halls.
“What are you doing in here?” Will asks, reaching out a cautious hand.
The cat pushes its head against his palm. At least it’s friendly.
“I’m going to put my stuff away and then we’ll see if anyone is looking for a cat. Okay?”
The cat meows and Will takes that for as much agreement as he’s going to get. He turns back to the fridge and starts to put stuff away. He’s moved to putting cans of soup in the cabinet when he feels something rub up against his leg. He glances down to see the cat twining itself around him.
“Don’t think this means you get to move in here,” Will warns it. “We’re going to find your owner.”
It takes a few extra minutes to finish up, what with the cat almost tripping him several times and all, but finally it’s done. He kneels down and the cat pushes its head against his knee.
“Will you let me pick you up?” Will asks it. “Or should I just go knocking on doors?”
The cat purrs. Will shrugs his shoulders and scoops it up into his arms. It props its front legs up on his arm and doesn’t squirm too much. That must be a good sign.
Will opens his door and glances out into the hallway. It’s empty, no sign of anyone shouting for a pet. Maybe the owner doesn’t even know their cat is missing.
So he just knocks on doors, starting to the ones closest to his own. He reasons the cat probably wouldn’t have gone far from home but it doesn’t take long for him to start to wonder.
“Is this your cat?” he asks, whenever someone opens up. A lot of people don’t even seem to be home—or at least not answering the door to a strange man holding a cat.
“No, sorry” most of them say. A couple people just close the door in his face. Some of them give him strange looks.
Will just keeps knocking. He’s starting to wonder if he should just make the cat at home in his apartment and put up posters—that probably would be easier—when a boy with shaggy black hair opens the door and his eyes light up even as his forehead creases in confusion.
“Is…this your cat?” Will asks.
The boy glances over his shoulder at his apartment. “Um. Yeah. Shadow, how did you get out?”
“Shadow?” Will loosens his grip, handing the cat over.
“Cliche, I know.” He wrinkles his nose a bit and his frown turns up slightly as Shadow licks his chin. “Where’d you find her?”
“My kitchen, if you believe that.” Will shakes his head and laughs. “She must have gotten inside while I was bringing in my groceries.”
“Where do you live?”
Will takes a step back and points down the hall and around the corner. “Back there.”
“That’s far. I’ll be more careful from now on. Thanks for bringing her home.” The boy smiles and lets Shadow climb onto a table next to the door.
Will smiles back, watching her go. “It was no trouble. Have a good night.”
“You too.” The boy closes the door and Will walks back down the hallway to his own apartment. He glances at his empty counter when he walks through the door and shakes his head.
A couple weeks pass and Will forgets all about the Shadow and the boy. Until one day he leaves the door open as he’s bringing in a new couch and it happens again.
He closes the door, settles down on his new couch, and nearly has a heart attack over the pair of yellow eyes staring at him out from under his TV stand.
“Shadow?” Will asks once he’s calmed down a bit. The cat slinks out from underneath the stand and hops up next to him on the couch. “We’ve gotta stop meeting like this.”
She purrs, placing her paws on his thigh like she’s thinking about climbing into his lap.
“Now, come on.” Will gathers her up into his arms. “Let’s get you home.”
At least this time he gets to skip the circus of knocking on doors. He goes directly down to 112 and knocks. It takes a minute, but the boy answers.
“Shadow,” he says, sounding exasperated as he takes her from Will. “I don’t know how you do it.”
“She’s a crafty one.” The cat stares at Will until he reaches over and scratches lightly under her chin. “Must have snuck into my apartment when I was moving in a new couch.”
“Thanks. Again.” The boy rolls his eyes as he lets Shadow get down. “I’m Nico, by the way.”
“Will. I guess I’ll see you around.”
“Yeah.” Nico grabs the door knob, blocking Shadow from sneaking out again. “See you.”
And he does. Three days later. Will comes home from a long shift at the daycare to find Shadow sitting outside his apartment staring at the door like it’s hers.
“What are you doing here?” Will asks as he unlocks it. She trots in as soon as the door opens and hops on the couch, curling up at the end.
Will sighs and gives in. His feet are killing him so he collapses onto the couch. He can take Shadow home in a few minutes.
He’s halfway through an episode of Stargate Atlantis when there’s a knock on the door. Will groans as he gets up to answer.
“Hey, Will.” Nico stands on the other side, wringing his hands. “Is Shadow here?”
Will steps back and waves a hand at the couch, where Shadow is sitting, alertly watching the two of them.
“She must really like you,” Nico says, walking over and scratching her on the head.
“Or my apartment.” Will shrugs and drops back down into his seat on the couch.
“Maybe.” Nico glances over at the TV. “I should probably let you get back to—is that Duet?”
“Hell yeah it is.” Will reaches for the remote. “Still about half of it left, you want to finish it with me?”
“You…don’t mind?” Nico glances back to where the door’s been left open.
“Of course not. Any fan of Atlantis is a friend of mine. Just close the door so Shadow doesn’t go wandering again.”
“Sure.” Nico grins as he walks back across the room and shuts the door. He settles down on the other end of the couch and Shadow climbs into his lap and makes herself comfortable. Once they’re settled, Will starts the episode back up.
“Incredible,” Nico says when it’s over, stretching out his legs from where he’s had them curled under him on the couch.
“It’s a fantastic episode.” Will nudges Shadow off from where she’s settled into his lap and stands up. It seems to be about dinner time so he heads to the fridge. Nothing looks appealing. “I’m starving. You wanna order a pizza?”
Nico freezes from where he’s gathered up Shadow like he’s preparing to leave. “Pizza.” He sets her back down. “Sure.”
“Ha. No one can pass up pizza.” Will grabs the menu from beside the fridge and tosses it to Nico.
Nico throws the menu back. “All I ask is no mushrooms.”
“I can deal with that.” Will dials up the number from memory and orders a large pepperoni and ham pizza.
“Oh, hey, I’ll run down and grab my wallet.” Nico starts to stand up but Will waves him down again.
“Don’t worry about it. My treat.”
“Okay.” Nico relaxes back against the couch again. “Thanks.”
“Yep.” Will opens the fridge and pulls out a bottle of Mountain Dew. “You want anything to drink?”
“You have two of those?”
Will grins and grabs a second bottle. He thinks about tossing it but decides better of that. “What brought you to NYC?”
“School. I’m a sophomore at CUNY.” The soda bottle lets out a loud hiss as he opens it.
“Hey, me too. What do you study?”
Nico pauses and glances down to where Shadow is crawling into his lap. “Byzantine and Greek Studies.”
“Oh really.” Will grins as Nico looks up cautiously, like he’s just waiting for the jokes to start. “Have you had Ms. Stavros as a professor?”
“No, not yet. Next semester I do, though. Is she good?”
“She’s wonderful. Really passionate about her work and always willing to help if you drop by her office. And she brings baklava on exam days, which is awesome.” Will hums at the memory, his mouth watering.
Nico raises an eyebrow at him. “Are you…?”
Will shakes his head. “Pre-med. I took a class with her for fun my freshman year.”
“Didn’t realize pre-med students had time for fun.”
“Ha. Ha.” Will sticks his tongue out at him like the grown adult he is. “You’re not too far wrong.”
They talk about school, trading stories about classes and professors, until there’s a knock on the door. Will launches off the couch, grabs his wallet from the counter, and answers. The pizza smells amazing the moment he opens the door.
“Plates?” Nico asks, following Will into the kitchen.
Will sets the box down on the counter and points at the cabinet next to the fridge. “In there.”
Nico stares into the cabinet for a moment and then pulls a couple off the top. He hands one to Will and they dig in. When they settle back down on the couch, Will starts up the next episode of Atlantis.
They’ve polished off almost the entire pizza by the time it’s over. “I should probably get Shadow back,” Nico says, sounding regretful. “I have an eight am.”
Will makes a sympathetic noise, gathering up their plates and empty Mountain Dew bottles. “My earliest this semester is nine am. I don’t mind morning classes.”
Nico glares at him, smiling slightly as he does it. “You’re one of those people.”
“Yep.” Will grins brightly back at him. “Good luck with your class.”
“Thanks.” Nico gathers Shadow into his arms, says good night, and then he’s gone. Will catches himself humming along to nothing as he puts the last two pieces of pizza in the fridge and washes the dishes. He can’t help but hope that Shadow will pay him another visit, as long as Nico comes to find her.
After that, Shadow comes down to Will’s apartment almost every day. Sometimes she waits outside until he comes home. Sometimes, if he’s already there, she scratches and meows at the door until he lets her in. And, on more than one occasion, she just invites herself in. No matter how many times Nico insists he’ll be careful and that he doesn’t know how she keeps getting out, Shadow just keeps coming.
When neither of them have a ton of homework, Nico stays for the evening, just to hang out. Shadow curls up between them on the couch, in the perfect spot for attention from both of them.
It’s two weeks after their first dinner together, and hanging out has become a bit of a routine, before Will starts to wonder if it’s more than just hanging out. Nico falls asleep on the couch on a Friday night. He looks so comfortable, the dark circles under his eyes thrown into sharp relief, that Will can barely stand the idea of waking him.
Shadow seems to agree, glaring up at Will from her spot on Nico’s chest when he stands up. Will smiles at her and fetches a blanket, tucking it around Nico and the cat as best he can. He looks down at the sleeping boy for a moment, heart racing in his chest. Then he turns off the light and goes to bed. Nico is gone by morning.
Will’s always been open about his sexuality, but there’s something about Nico that makes him want to keep quiet, for now. Maybe it’s the way Nico looks apologetic as he knocks on the door even after they’ve been doing this for three weeks.
Will might be open, but he can also be patient. He has his suspicions about Nico—stemming from the way the boy’s eyes linger on John Sheppard and Ronon but never Teyla—but he keeps them to himself.
It’s Wednesday night, Will buried deep in notes for his Anatomy midterm, when there’s a knock on the door. He glances around, reassuring himself that Shadow is not, in fact, in his apartment for once.
“She’s not here,” Will says as he opens the door.
Nico smiles apologetically. “I know. I was hoping I could use some sugar.”
“Yeah, of course.” Will moves aside and tries not to notice the way Nico goes directly to the right cupboard without even the slightest hesitation. “What’s it for?”
“Professor of mine keeps talking about how her wife cut chocolate out of her diet and now there’s none in the house.” Nico lifts down the plastic bin, the stretch lifting up the hem of his worn T-shirt. “So I’m making her brownies.”
Will smiles and steps across the floor, leaning against the fridge with his arms crossed. “I’m not an accomplice to bribery here, am I?”
“No.” Nico grins at him as he scoops out enough. “We don’t have an exam in that class for two more weeks, anyway.”
“Good.” Will moves out of the way as Nico puts the sugar back and grabs his cup. “You know, you don’t have to make excuses to come down to see me.”
“I know.” Nico’s top teeth bite into his bottom lip. “Thanks for the sugar.”
“Anytime,” Will replies as Nico leaves. If his voice drops a couple notes in register, well, he’s just tired.
The next time Nico knocks, once again without Shadow to lure him down, it’s almost desperate. Will opens the door, half-expecting to see someone bleeding out in the hallway. Instead it’s just Nico, his eyes wild and underlined with shadows, the world’s largest stack of note cards in his hands.
“I need your help,” he says.
Will moves aside to let him in. “I think you need less coffee and a nap.”
“No time.” Nico drops the note cards on the coffee table and they scatter across the surface, some of them sliding to the floor. “I have a biology exam tomorrow.”
“What do you need help with?” Will sits down on his usual side of the couch, leaning forward to look at the cards.
“Everything.” Nico falls back onto the couch, splaying himself across his side. “It’s cumulative, Will. Who even does that?”
“Okay, okay. Go get your book and your syllabus. I’ll help.”
Nico’s smile is grim but there as he bolts from the room. He returns with the instructed materials, a giant black binder, and Shadow trotting at his heels. She immediately jumps up on the coffee table and spreads herself out on top of the note cards. Nico ignores her, handing over the syllabus first.
They work until late into the night, going concept by concept. It’s around one when Will leans back on the couch, only intending to close his eyes for a moment.
It’s still dark out when he wakes again. His back is cramped from sleeping sitting up on the couch. There’s something warm and fluffy in his lap. And something warm and hard leaning against his shoulder.
Will picks his head up slowly, careful not to move too much as he looks. There are note cards and papers and diagrams spread all across the table, couch, and floor. Shadow’s curled up in his lap, asleep. Nico is in a similar state, with his head leaning against Will’s shoulder.
He’s tempted to just let him sleep, but with an exam that’s not typically the best idea. Will squints at the clock above the stove until he makes out a glowing 5:22.
“Nico,” Will whispers, still not moving out from under him. “Nico, wake up.”
Nothing.
Will shifts his body until he’s able to free up an arm and then reaches over, shaking the other boy gently. “Hey, wake up.”
Nico startles awake, his entire body tensed. He takes in Will right there in front of him and then the rest of the room before rubbing his eyes. “I’m sor—”
“Nothing to apologize for,” Will says gently. “I just don’t want you to miss your exam.”
He tenses up all over again. “What time is it?”
“Almost five-thirty.”
Nico lets out a long groan and then starts to gather up his stuff. “Is it okay if I come back for Shadow later?”
“Of course.” Will scratches at her head, waking the cat up with a startled chirp. “Good luck on your exam.”
“Thanks. And thanks for all your help.”
Once Nico’s gone, Will hauls himself off the couch and lands in bed. At least he can catch a couple hours of sleep before he has to go to class. Shadow trots on his heels and hops up onto the bed, curling up at his feet. The last thing Will feels before he drifts off is the bed shaking underneath him as she scratches an ear.
Will goes to class and then runs some errands until he forgets all about the cat in his apartment. That is, until he gets home and she’s sitting on his coffee table staring up at him expectantly like she’s just been watching the door the whole time.
“Hey,” Will says, walking over to give her a scratch behind the ears. “I’m sure Nico will come by to get you soon.” He’s just turning back around when there’s a knock on the door. “Speak of the devil and he shall come.”
Nico’s practically grinning and bouncing on the threshold when Will opens the door. He’s normally so subdued that Will isn’t sure how to react to the change. “My exam went great,” he says.
“That’s awesome.” Will moves aside and hurries to shut the door as Shadow trots over to greet her real owner.
Nico kneels down to pet her. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Glad I could help.” Will feels something knock against his side as he starts away from the door and realizes his shoulder bag is still hanging there. He pulls it off and drops it next to the counter.
Nico straightens up and catches his gaze, eyes unsure. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
Will shrugs it off and then the words are popping into his head and out of his mouth before he can stop them. “You could always kiss me.”
Nico freezes like a deer in headlights and stares at the ground, mouth slightly open. A cold blast of fear rushes through Will as he mentally kicks himself. “I’m sorry, I was kidding. I didn’t mean—”
“What if I did?” Nico asks in a jumbled hurry.
Will stares at him for a moment, running the words through his head repeatedly, searching for any meaning than the one he thinks he’s just heard. “What if you did what?”
“Kissed you?” Nico steps forward, his face guarded but determined.
Will’s heart feels like it’s going to leap out of his chest. He wishes that he could reach down and pinch himself, make sure this isn’t a dream brought on by another of Mr. Morgan’s boring lectures, but he figures that would be a bit weird. He opens his mouth to reply but then Nico’s lips are on his and there are far more important things to be doing than talking.
Will brings his hands up, resting one around the back of Nico’s neck and the other on his waist. It doesn’t take long for them to fall into a steady rhythm. Will can feel the tension sliding out of Nico’s muscles as he sighs into the kiss.
Nico pulls away first, gently, and leans his forehead against Will’s. “Go out to dinner with me,” he whispers.
Will rubs his thumb in circles on the back of Nico’s neck, drawing out a shiver. “Of course.”
***
Will glances around his apartment, filled with boxes and totes of things that aren’t his but belong here all the same. It’s been six months since Shadow first made her way down to his apartment. Sometimes, when Nico isn’t around, Will talks to her. Asks if she chose his apartment for a reason or if it was just a coincidence that it was his door that happened to be open that day.
He can’t help but wonder, if she’d gone to another apartment or if Nico had succeeding in keeping the Houdini locked up, if they’d ever even met, become friends, kissed.
Nico steps through the door with another box in his hands, shaking Will out of his reverie. “Is that the last of it?” Will asks.
Nico glances around at all of his stuff as he puts it down somewhere out of the way. “Just one more thing.” He turns around just as Shadow dashes through the door and leaps onto the counter. “Now that’s everything.”