Chapter Text
Nico has known heartbreak. He’s known that wretched wrenching feeling of wanting something beyond aching, beyond words. Hating himself, who he is, where he comes from; none of those are new to him either. In fact, Nico would go so far as to say it’s a common theme in his life. So when Will, his boyfriend off and on for the past four years, tells him he wants to talk, Nico already knows what’s about to happen.
They sit on the balcony of their apartment in New Rome, Will obviously unable to bring himself to make eye contact and Nico sitting with his legs crossed like a kindergartner. It’s nice out at night, when the majority of the lights are dimmed. Nico can almost pretend he feels a gentle breeze, but that tends to remind him of ship decks and the smell of monsters.
“It’s been four years,” Will starts, as if they hadn’t just been talking about the newest Pokemon game. “and you still aren’t in love with me.”
Nico snorts. “And you know this for sure, hm? Got my feelings all figured out?” He sounds harsh, but the repetition of this argument is getting out of hand. Will does this periodically, works like clockwork. Jason mentions Percy once during his frequent Iris calls and suddenly Will gets paranoid.
Will makes a noise of frustration. “Nico, we break up every couple of months!”
“Because you break up with me,” Nico reminds him, succeeding in securing a bored tone.
“You never try and stop me from breaking up with you,” Will reasons. Nico opens his mouth to retort only to close it again, because his now-once-boyfriend is not wrong. “Exactly.”
“Maybe it’s because I know we’ll just end up back together?” Nico suggests, bringing his knees to his chin. His legs have gotten longer, ridiculously so, and he’s going to need new jeans again, but he can still manage to fold them against his body.
“I don’t think that’s really it,” Will says, and he sounds so sad, Nico feels incredibly guilty. It rises up in him, sneaking out from whatever hell infested hidey hole Nico keeps the majority of his emotions, and poisons him from the inside out. He can already feel the insomniatic weeks in his future.
Nico picks at the ends of his pants that are just a tad too high on his ankles. “Are we going to get back together this time?” he asks, because it’s a fair question.
Will gives him a hard look. “Nico, I always come back to you, because I love you. More than anybody,” he admits, and he looks like he’s breaking inside. Nico wants to feel that way about this moment, but he’s felt too much heartbreak before to feel it now.
“I love you, too,” Nico tells him, because it’s true. If he could name the easiest parts of his life, it would be the times with Will.
“Not enough,” Will retorts, because it’s also true. He tries to give Nico a reassuring smile. “We’re both young. I’ll bounce back. Maybe you’ll find what you’re looking for, if what Jason says is true.”
Nico kind of wants to say he’s been trying to bounce back his whole life and just ends up looking like a deflated basketball. He also knows that Will wouldn’t really appreciate the sentiment of that comment right now. “It won’t last,” Nico says offhandedly. He must sound kind of bitter, because Will looks both taken aback and more upset.
“You should probably leave,” Will says after a minute of watching Nico watch him. Rolling onto his feet, Nico goes into the living room to grab his stuff. He hadn’t really unpacked since the last time Will kicked him out.
“You think Hazel’s still awake right now?” Nico asks. Will snorts.
“She has an old lady’s sleeping schedule. You should probably go to Jason’s. He’d probably enjoy the company, although Reyna does have that meeting tomorrow morning…” Will shrugs and starts grabbing some of the things Nico hadn’t gotten to yet.
Nico takes the stuff from him and snickers a little. “Hazel is definitely not an old lady. You remember, what was it, three months ago? I showed up and freakin’ Leo answered the door covered in bite marks and wearing Frank’s boxers.”
Will covers his face with his free hand. “Please, gods, don’t remind me. You Iris messaged me right after, and they all looked so guilty. And naked.”
“You’re lucky you didn’t have to sleep in the other room. Pretty sure I might never recover,” Nico laments.
“Poor baby,” Will says, but he looks better now than he did before. He makes an aborted move towards Nico and they both freeze. Instead of the kiss they both pretend Will definitely was not going to give him, he hands him another one of his socks that Nico keeps lying around.
“Thanks,” Nico says, awkwardly. He zips up his bag, makes sure he still has the rest of his stuff, and gives Will another look.
Will still has an expression on his face like he’s been suckerpunched, and it just totally sucks in every way, because Nico genuinely does care for him. He loves him, and he knows that this is hurting him. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a keychain with a single key on its circle. He secures his bag on his shoulder and manages to slide the key off, before tossing it to where Will is watching him miserably. “You should probably keep that this time around.”
Will catches it easily. “Nico,” he starts, but he stops himself. “I really fucking love you.”
Another piece of Nico breaks. “I know. We’ll talk soon, promise,” Nico lies, and leaves.
Jason is still awake this time of night, because he answers the door. He gives Nico one solemn look then opens the door, inviting the other boy in.
“Thanks,” Nico says idly, automatically slipping his shoes off. Reyna hates when anyone wears shoes into the house, and Jason is nothing if not accommodating to her strange household quirks.
“It’s because I mentioned Percy, isn’t it,” Jason says, sounding tired and regretful. Nico waves off his concern and plops onto his couch.
“I think this is really it this time,” Nico says, staring at the ceiling. Jason’s eyes are all round and supportive, and while Nico has adjusted to having friends who care about his emotional state, it doesn’t mean he is always having an emotion.
“I knew I shouldn’t have, but-”
“Yeah, Percy suddenly trying go Bear Grylls is kind of big news.” Nico shrugs. “The end was a long time coming, honestly. He deserves better.”
Jason sits down next to him. “I think you’re a great catch. You just referenced Man Vs Wild, and that’s only a couple years too late,” he says with a teasing grin. Nico rolls his eyes.
“There is a lot of modern television to catch up on, and I can’t just download it into my brain like a robot. I’m never going to be hip, okay, you already knew this,” Nico complains, and Jason snorts.
“Not all of us were meant to be ‘hip’,” Jason says, using air quotes. Nico points at him accusingly.
“You nerd! Air quotes are not cool.”
“Neither is the word ‘hip’,” Jason counters.
“I will kill both of you,” Reyna shouts from the other room. Jason and Nico give each other a look before laughing as quietly as possible.
Nico rests his head back on the couch, staring back at the ceiling. The rough texture combined with the white paint makes it look as if the landlord only painted over dirt and called it a roof. “I won’t stay long,” Nico assure Jason.
Jason’s smile drops a little. “You should talk to Hazel before you leave tomorrow,” he says, accurately reading between Nico’s lines.
“It’s not like I won’t come back,” Nico says.
Jason ignores this. “Where will you go?” he asks, suspiciously.
Nico shrugs.
After another minute of Jason staring at him, reading his face, he sighs. “Do you need the address?” Jason asks, sounding tired. Nico thinks that Jason had been banking harder on his relationship with Will than he had.
“No,” Nico says, barely above a whisper. If he closed his eyes right now, he would be back on the Argo II, in his borrowed bed, all of his focus on the bright life that radiated from Percy, even through the cloak of darkness that filled Tartarus so completely. He can feel it now, clings to it sometimes out of muscle memory. He could find Percy anywhere, but he doesn’t say that out loud. He doesn’t need to.
“Okay,” Jason says, after a moment. “I think it’ll be healthy if you take this time to tell him.”
Nico snorts as sardonically as he possibly can. “Tell him what? ‘When I was younger, I was stupidly in love with you, and stupidly let it ruin my relationship’?”
“Love isn’t stupid,” Jason argues.
“That’s just your years with Piper speaking,” Nico teases. “How is she, by the way?”
“Still trying to get Annabeth’s attention. It’s hell to watch, honestly. They’re like best friends, except for all the gay longing stares,” Jason tells him, exasperated.
Nico fake shivers. “Horrifying.”
Jason laughs. “You know I don’t mean it like that.”
“I do,” Nico says. “Gay longing stares are the worst.”
“Will used to stare at you,” Jason tells him. “Even though he had you, he would look at you like he didn’t.”
Nico curls up into the corner of the couch. “I think I want to go to sleep now.”
Jason holds his hands up in surrender. “Alright. Reyna probably wants her human bedheater back anyway.”
“Gross,” Nico says, and Jason laughs, sitting up and then standing.
“Night, Nico.”
“Night,” Nico replies to Jason’s retreating back. He grabs the blanket Reyna keeps on the couch and curls up again.
The tears come fast, and while this isn’t the first time one of his and Will’s break ups has made him cry, the fact it will be the last makes it all the more torturous to endure. It feels as if his ribcage is breaking and folding into his organs, like he can’t breathe right anymore. He mourns for a friend, for a relationship he had wanted to work so badly, and falls asleep between one breath and the next.
Hazel hugs him for nearly five minutes straight when he shows up the next day. When she pulls back, her eyes are a little teary, and Nico feels compelled to remind her he can literally be at her place in a minute, tops, from where he’s going. She smacks his arm and then rubs it consolingly. “I’m so sorry it didn’t work out, Nico,” she says.
“It sucks,” he confesses. “It really, really sucks. Hardcore.”
She snickers. “They’ll make a Millennial out of you yet.”
Nico waits until she shouts to Frank where she’s taking her brother and then loops his arm through hers. He brings his bags, because it’ll be easier for him in the long run, but she frets enough that he hands her his backpack. Everything else, he carries.
“This is really all of your stuff?” she asks, once they sit down at the little cafe she likes that is close enough to walk to. She gives Nico a measuring look. “It kind of looks like you never really bothered to settle down.”
Nico shrugs uncomfortably. “Well, the first half of our relationship was long distance,” he reminds her. “I never really planned on staying in one place for very long until we got kind of serious.”
Hazel gives him a knowing look, but lets it go, blessedly. She tinkers with the cup of tea in front of her. “I’m going to miss having you right down the road.”
“The good news is you have two cute distractions back at your place,” Nico says, and Hazel’s face turns bright pink. She fans herself a little, a quirk she hadn’t dropped, even into her later teen years.
“That hardly matters in the barracks,” she reminds him. “We’re only at Leo’s for a couple of days, then Frank and I are back to camp.”
“It pays to date older,” Nico says sagely, and she reaches over to smack his arm again, giggling.
“When did you get so droll?” she wonders.
“Curse of being a Hades kid: you’re a constant downer,” he reminds her, and she nods.
“We sure have a lot to deal with,” she adds genuinely, and Nico really wishes he had spent more time with his sister while he had lived in the same city as her. “Are you really going to find Percy?”
“Finding him won’t be hard,” Nico tells her. “Honestly, I’m surprised he’s lasted this long all alone out there.”
“I’m sure he has someone to talk to,” Hazel comments. “Fish, if nothing else.”
Nico groans. “He’s by the sea? Damn.”
Hazel gives him a puzzled look. “Don’t you know his address?”
“Why does everyone know his address? Isn’t he supposed to be in some secluded area, hiding away?” Nico asks.
“It’s Percy,” she says with another shrug. “You know how he is. I think he wants someone to come up there, but the last time anyone tried, he sent them away.”
“You mean Annabeth,” Nico reminds her. “That’s not just anyone.”
“Neither are you,” she tells him, and his heart doesn’t skip a beat at the implication. It also does not sink when she adds, “You’re, like, the king of isolation.”
“Gee, thanks,” he says, settling into his seat. She gives him a confused look.
“Well, it’s not like I’m wrong. But if anyone could convince him that the solitary path isn’t the way to go, it’d be you,” she continues in the same considerate, hopeful tone, as if Nico isn’t suddenly sulking across from her.
Nico waves his hand at the air. “Yeah, yeah, bring back the golden boy, erase the debt, I get it.”
“What?” Hazel asks, eyes wide.
“Video game thing,” he answers, waving his hand in a dismissive gesture.
They spend the rest of the meal talking about random things happening with her, Frank, and Leo, and how she’ll keep an eye on Jason for him. “I know he’s with Reyna now, but I just keep thinking the whole Piper and Annabeth thing is going to make him sad again,” she comments. “It was so horrible after his and Piper’s break up. Wasn’t like that with Percy and Annabeth’s though.”
“I wouldn’t really know about that one,” Nico says, trying not to sound like he wants to either. “I just one day have Jason saying, ‘Percy and Annabeth aren’t together anymore,’ and then Will saying, ‘you should leave’. And now he’s gone off into the woods or something.”
“Maybe this is his breakdown,” Hazel says, cupping her cheek. “I really hope he’s okay.”
“It’s Percy Jackson,” Nico reminds her, and she gives him a soft smile.
“He’s still a person.”
When Nico leaves, Hazel’s eyes tear up again. They exchange I’ll Miss You’s and Nico promises to call her as frequently as he calls Jason, if not more. Nico tells her to be safe and careful, because she’s his sister, and sometimes all he can think about is the last person who held that title.
Once they’ve said their goodbyes, Nico closes his eyes and actively focuses on the point of energy he’s been keeping track of for longer than he would like to admit. Stepping into the shadows is like the first step into a childhood home after a long time away, and he takes the long way around, breezing through cities, counties, and states until he’s close enough to stop. When he opens his eyes again, there is a small beach and a small house facing it.
It’s a cove, and Nico suddenly wonders how exactly Annabeth got here, because the house is surrounded by large stone walls, as if the gods had pushed the point of a cliff downwards towards the sea. Nico stands underneath the single palm tree, the shadow that let him enter, and marvels at what he almost wants to call a shack.
He starts walking towards it, only to be pulled back by a hand around his wrist.
“Just where do you think you’re going?” says a nymph, obviously a dryad. The ghostly blue of her skin contrasted interestingly with the shreds of leaves she had woven into a dress. “Percy doesn't want guests.”
“He’ll want to see me,” Nico tells her, trying to pull out of her grip.
Her other hand snaps out to grab on tighter. “That’s what the last one said, but he didn’t want to see her! Not that I blame him. She was so white,” the dryad complains.
Nico shakes his wrists angrily, trying to yank his way out. With a huff, he stills, and the dryad smiles cruelly, thinking she’s won. Nico closes his eyes, focuses slightly, and smirks as the dryad gasps. The land around her tree shakes threateningly, and her grip drops as she clings to the thick trunk.
“Stop that! Evil demigod!” the dryad cries. “You’re not allowed!”
Nico smirks a little more. “Do I look like I need your permission?” he taunts. He unsettles the ground a little more, just to make a point.
“Did you come here just to upset my tree?” Percy calls from behind him. Nico’s head snaps around, and he does not blush, because he is legally an adult and had a serious, adult relationship for multiple years. He’s even had sex before! Blushing should be like virginity; gone forever once he’s had a face full of dick.
Thinking about dick while Percy watches him from his leaning position in the doorway of his home is not the ideal situation, and Nico tries quickly to change it, in a mature manner.
“She started it,” he says grumpily. Nailed it.
Percy looks surprised for a second and then snorts. “Are you sure? You can be kind of abrasive when you want to be.”
Nico tries not to take that to heart. Instead, he gives the still cowering dryad a dirty look. “She was all over me, like, three seconds before you got out here.”
The dryad looks at Percy pitifully. “I was just trying to make sure he left you alone.”
“I appreciate it, Wilhelmina, but Nico comes and goes as he pleases. He’s special like that,” Percy says, giving Nico a smile that makes Nico a tad weak in the knees. It’s not his fault; Percy grew up even more gorgeous than Nico thought he would. His hair is longer, a mess that leans more to one side now days, and when he smiles, the laugh lines near his still startling green eyes make Nico want to trace them with his fingertips.
“I’ve told you to call me Willy,” the dryad chirps in a charmed manner, and Nico thinks they might have some common ground after all. He’s starting to realize that visiting his still dashing once-crush probably wasn’t that great of an idea, especially if he’s going to walk around in wifebeaters that hang loosely on his body like this.
Nico coughs, to remind himself he has to breath, despite living for an indeterminate amount of time in an airtight jar once. “I actually don’t travel as much anymore,” Nico says.
Percy looks at his bags. “You definitely did not used to carry luggage.” He picks up the biggest of the bags, all of which Nico had dropped in his altercation with the dryad, and starts carrying it towards the house. He stops when he realizes Nico isn’t following. “You are staying for a while, aren’t you?”
Nico feels like he’s stepped into the Twilight Zone, which actually is a super cool show once he forced himself to watch it. In any case, he picks up the rest of his stuff and follows Percy into the house, kicking off his sand-filled shoes on the porch.
Percy watches him trip his way through the threshold and gives Nico a second to look around.
It isn’t the smallest place he’s ever seen, (not after Jason’s last apartment, before he moved in with Reyna) but it’s cozy enough. There are only four rooms, from what he can tell, and three of them are out in the open, bleeding one into another like rivers into the ocean. The furniture looks worn down, like it’s weathered sand storms, children, and other natural disasters then lived to tell the tale and put in this odd house. Nico gives Percy a reassuring smile he usually only uses on Jason when he gets it in his head that Nico needs worrying after.
Only that just seems to throw Percy for a fucking loop, because he stares at Nico like he’s sprouted a second head that spoke fluent Italian. His current head can speak Italian just fine, of course, but he doesn’t think that would make a difference to Percy. Nico’s smile must fall off his face and break Percy’s shock, because he speaks again.
“This way to the bedrooms,” Percy says, sort of subdued. Nico counts the months in his head, and no matter how he looks at it, even with three months of isolation, Percy doesn’t have any excuse to go crazy just yet.
The one room Nico couldn’t see turns out to be two, one of which that leads to the backyard. The room across from that one is where Percy drops Nico’s bag in. It isn’t super huge, but again, he’s seen worse, and there enough space for a full bed. Nico drops the rest of his stuff, and looks at Percy, who’s rubbing the back of his neck.
“I’ll just leave you to unpack, or whatever,” Percy mumbles and walks away, leaving Nico gaping after him.
Instead of unpacking, Nico sits on the perfectly made bed and tries to consolidate this Percy Jackson with the one he grew up with. He fights the urge to run down the hall and shake Percy’s shoulders, shouting what he’s done with the real Percy. Percy doesn’t stand in awkward silence when an old friend comes to visit; doesn’t keep his body parts to himself, because casual physical affection has never been something Percy has thought about much. Hell, Percy doesn’t mumble unless it’s a snide comment he knows he shouldn’t say at full volume but feels obligated to say because it needs to be said.
Nico kind doesn’t know what to do with this Pod Person Percy (Pod Percy?). Back in the day, avoidance was the best strategy; Percy has the kind of personality that just sucks him in and spits out the bones. Now, Percy seems more subdued, and while Nico has been watching for a wild storm, he’s starting to think he needs to watch for the undertow. Something isn’t right.
After another second of freaking out, Nico pushes himself off the bed, dusts himself off, and takes off his damnable socks. He tries to get his hair back into line and briefly considers rolling up the cusps of his black jeans, but they just aren’t short enough yet. Bracing himself for the weirdness that is seeing Percy after four years of radio silence between them and having him turn out to be so different, Nico walks down the hallway and towards the various noises he hears happening in the house.
Percy is walking around, all nervous energy, and Nico feels a part of himself relax. At least Percy is still constantly moving, the way he’s always been. He looks up at Nico with big eyes, as if he wasn’t expect Nico to actually still be here or leave the room.
“Aren’t you going to ask what I’m doing here?” Nico asks, leaning against the mouth of the hallway.
Percy’s face darkens, but he gives Nico a forced smile. “For the same reason Annabeth was here a couple days ago, I’d imagine.”
“Nah,” Nico tells him. “I think solitude is a great idea. It isn’t like you’re a people person or anything.”
Percy frowns and straightens up from where he had previously been messing with the worn down cushions on the couch. “I just needed a break, okay?”
Nico holds his hands up, reminiscent of Jason’s favorite hand gesture when Nico starts getting pissy. “No judgement. I didn’t actually stop coming and going until about two years ago. Sometimes it’s good to just disappear.”
Percy nods, his body relaxing obviously. “Yeah.” His eyebrows furrowed. “What happened two years ago?”
Suddenly Nico regrets trying to relate to anyone ever. “I, uh. I got a boyfriend, and he didn’t really like me traveling all the time.”
If Percy is surprised about Nico’s preference, he doesn’t show it. “Oh, yeah. Will, right? Why didn’t you just take him with you?”
“I probably could have,” Nico admits. “But I thought settling for at least a little while wouldn’t hurt. I got a lot closer to my sister.” He has definitely lost control of this conversation.
Percy takes a seat in a faded blue and white striped chair, motioning for Nico to take the faded ugly yellow couch. “How does he feel about you being here?”
Nico shrugs. “It doesn’t really matter, since we broke up. I’d imagine he’d be a bit upset though.”
“Oh, damn,” Percy says. “Sorry, man. That sucks.”
“It’s cool. I hear you went through a break up too, recently,” Nico says, trying not to sound like he’s attempting to lead the conversation.
Percy gives him a smile that makes his heart beat a little faster. That’s going to get annoying, fast, Nico thinks to himself. “Annabeth and I were together for a long time. I’m not really sure I know how to be me without her being mine, you know?”
“Is that why you-” Nico makes vague hand gestures towards the whole of the house.
“Maybe,” Percy says too quickly. “But it doesn’t hurt that even the gods can’t seem to find me here.”
“Percy,” Nico says, using his gentlest tone. “Everyone knows your address. I had three people offer it to me when they realized I was coming to visit.”
“Only trustworthy people know it,” Percy corrects him.
“So basically every person you’ve ever called a friend,” Nico surmises.
Percy snorts. “You’re so sarcastic, now.”
“It’s not really a new thing,” Nico says. “People just listen more now.”
“Or you talk more. You seem a lot more comfortable. And open,” Percy says. “If that makes any sense.”
“I’ve grown up a little, I guess. We can’t all stay angsty teenagers forever,” Nico tells him, suddenly very uncomfortable. Usually, Jason, Hazel, and any other person who wants to figure out what is happening in his life has to guess themselves. He doesn’t like forming things into words, never has, yet here he is, blathering on to someone who tried to get away from it all. “You’ve changed a lot too, for what it’s worth.”
Percy has his sad smile on again, one that Nico is starting to associate with nostalgia. “Yeah, Annabeth’s told me.”
It kind of hits Nico right then, that he’s sitting on Percy’s nasty yellow couch in the middle of nowhere. He’s traveled here, has known he was coming here for nearly a day and half now, and he never bothered to figure out what he was doing here beyond trying to find out what is wrong with Percy. He’s also realizing what his sister must of have known before him, that he’s going to be here for a good bit of time if he’s working with the little bits and pieces Percy’s giving him.
“What do you even do in this place?” Nico asks, looking around again. There’s another door that leads to a patio in front of him, all shiny glass that would do no good in a hurricane. Nico supposes Percy doesn’t really have to worry about that, though, being able to control the sea and all.
“I swim a lot,” Percy admits. “I’ve been trying to write.”
Nico snorts, only to see Percy isn’t kidding. In fact, he looks kind of nervous, pink around the edges. “Wow, really? I thought your superhero attention span was too bad for that kind of thing.”
Percy nods, smiling sheepishly. “Yeah, it is, but. There’s just so much that happened to us, with the prophesies and quests, and it’s not like it’s written down the way the other objects of greek mythos are. I just wanted to… I don’t know. Immortalize the sacrifices we’ve all made.”
Nico finds himself gaping again. “How you manage to make writing sound noble, I’ll never understand.”
Percy looks a little pinker. “Trust me, it’s anything but noble. It just seems like someone needs to write it down.”
“I think it’s a good idea. If you need any help, well. I’m here now,” Nico says. Something else occurs to him. “You are okay with me staying, right?”
Percy frowns, looking a little cagey. “I wouldn’t have brought your bag in if I wasn’t okay with you staying.”
Nico isn’t entirely sure that is the whole truth, but he lets it slide. “Cool. So, do I get a tour?”
The way Percy bounces up, like finally having something to do has revived him somehow, makes Nico smile. Percy doesn’t stare this time, but he does double take. Nico is quick to squash it, forcing himself to stand anyway.
With Percy’s cove being so small, there is very little for Nico to actually be introduced to, but Percy makes up for it by showing him the small things, like where the silverware and towels are kept in the kitchen and bathroom, respectively. Nico’s more than a little alarmed to find they’ll be sharing a bathroom that is attached to both their rooms, but he thinks that might be left over from living with Will, who had a thing for long, hot showers.
Outside, Percy has a table on his patio with two solitary, mismatched chairs and a nice overhang that blocks enough sun to make it Nico’s future favorite spot outdoors. In front, besides the obvious that was the beach, Nico is finally introduced to Willy the overprotective dryad.
“Annabeth and I had a little fight when she came to visit last,” Percy concedes. “I think Wilhelmenia blames herself for letting Annabeth come into the house.”
“Well, she definitely will not be making that mistake again,” Nico tells him. He side eyes Percy, before asking. “What did you guys fight about?”
Percy’s face goes through a spectrum of emotions before settling on resigned. “A bit of this, bit of that.”
“Sounds rough,” Nico says. Taking a deep breath, he gives Percy an out. “Alright, let’s not pretend like you haven’t been itching to show me the beach since I got here.”
With a bright grin that dazzles Nico more than any piece of water could, Percy starts herding him towards the water. They stand on the edge of the beach, both staring out at the waves. Nico chances a look at Percy, who has a terrifying look of contemplation on his face, a look that used to mean some terrifying plan was about to work and the day would be saved. Now, he just looks sort of sad.
Nico claps his hands to break the moment and gives Percy a grin. “Alright, you’ve convinced me. Day at the beach it is,” he says, moving to take off his black tee shirt. When he starts to undo his jeans, Percy speaks, sounding mildly alarmed.
“Don’t you want swim trunks or something?” he asks, watching Nico like he’s gone crazy. Percy does not seem to expect much, which is definitely something Nico can work with.
“Nah, it’s just us out here,” Nico says, shucking his pants. He’s glad he took off his shoes and socks at the house, because he already knows sand is going to be everywhere. He walks towards the ocean, eyeing the water distrustfully. Once he reaches where the waves are lapping at the shore, he makes sure to barely pause before simply walking straight into the water.
He turns back to Percy, who’s still watching at him like he’s performing some ridiculous trick that never occurred to Percy as a talent of his. Inwardly, he groans. Swimming is not his ideal activity, but it’s the only thing he can think of that Percy might enjoy.
“Aren’t you going to swim?” he asks, trying his best for condescending encouragement that always works on Jason. Percy kind of gives him a narrow-eyed once over and takes off his worthless piece of cloth of a shirt. Funny how heroes respond to condescending challenges.
Watching Percy undo his shorts is actually torture, and Nico faces the water again so he doesn’t have to watch. The sound of Percy entering the water from behind him makes his hair stand on end, for some reason, and Nico realizes just how horribly masochistic this plan was.
Percy dives right in, and why shouldn’t he? This is his home turf. He comes out of the water like a horrifying wet dream (ha) from Nico’s earlier teen years. It’s probably Nico’s turn to have the wide eyed look, but Percy doesn’t seem bothered. “Aren’t you going to swim?” he returns, challenging and smirking. Nico would totally be cool with dying at this exact moment while looking at Percy, dripping and gorgeous in front of him, looking more like himself than he has all day.
“I was waiting for my host to lead, since you’re giving me the tour of the beach and all,” Nico snipes, and he hopes he doesn’t sound as breathless as he feels.
Percy gets a look on his face, and it might have been the wrong thing for Nico to say. He switches that “might” to a “was definitely” when Percy starts making his way towards Nico, arms outstretched.
“What, what, what,” Nico chants as Percy grabs him around the waist and forces him deeper into the water.
“Just doing my host duties,” Percy says coyly before hoisting Nico off his feet. Nico gives a manly squeal that is quickly swallowed by water as his whole head is dunked. “Meet the water, Nico.”
“Stop it! Stop, stop!” Nico cries out as he resurfaces. Percy is laughing next to him, like Nico looking like a drowned rat is the funniest thing he’s seen in years. “I’m going to kill you. You’re going to find out why they call me the Ghost King,” Nico warns.
Percy laughs harder, which is interesting, considering most people tend to look at least a little freaked when he mentions that particular title. Nico settles for splashing as much water as he can into Percy’s face.
Percy chokes on it, for a second, but Nico guess one of the perks of being the son of Poseidon is being unable to drown because he doesn’t even notice the second wave of water to the face. He narrows his eyes at Nico again, his mouth in a quirked smile. “You don’t want to go down this road, Ghost King,” Percy says, and the tone of voice, in turns playful and threatening, goes straight to Nico’s dick.
“Don’t I?” Nico can’t help but say back, giving his best daring grin.
Percy’s smile goes dangerous, and suddenly the water around Nico is moving, swirling around him. Nico realizes every mistake, every bad decision he has ever made, has led to this right here. He is going to drown at the hand of the dude he’s been wanting to make out with since he was twelve.
The water shoots out around him and lands on top of him in an anticlimactic splash. Percy is cackling again, and Nico is feeling more drenched than he had when he was submerged. “You should have seen your face,” Percy chokes out between laughs. “Where’s the skeleton army?”
“Vacation time is really important for the undead,” Nico says, feeling slightly drunk on Percy’s laugh. “Besides, I’ve seen you do some terrible things with those powers.”
Percy gives him an exasperated look. “Yeah, but I wouldn’t do that to you. Not when you give me the best laugh I’ve had in, like, a year,” Percy says, rolling his eyes. Nico’s face is warm, and yeah, okay, he’s blushing. He’s eighteen, just out of a serious adult relationship, and blushing furiously.
After the splash fight, Percy seems content with swimming around where Nico floats. He talks to some of the more curious of the sea life, not really bothering to fill Nico in on the conversation, which is fine by him.
When the sun starts to set, Percy and Nico mutually agree to head in for the day.
“I’m starving,” Percy says, acting more energized than a starving man should. “I haven’t been this hungry in a while.”
Nico snorts and picks up their sandy clothes. “I hope you have something instant in your freezer, because I’m not sure I have the patience to cook.”
“I can cook,” Percy says defiantly, like Nico’s just personally offended his mother.
“I don’t doubt that,” Nico consoles, “but waiting for food to be made sounds torturous.”
Percy snickers. “You’re so skinny, I’m almost afraid that if I don’t feed you the second you’re hungry, you’ll pass out.”
Nico gives him an affronted look. “I’m a growing boy, okay. Give it a couple years, you’ll see.”
“I’m sure you’ll be a lady killer,” Percy agrees, holding the door open for him.
“Ladies, dead or otherwise, aren’t really my type,” Nico disagrees.
“Maneater then,” Percy tries, and Nico snickers. Percy’s eyes widen in surprise, but he seems a lot more relaxed about Nico displaying emotion around him than he had before the fight in the ocean.
“I accept this title,” Nico says with a nod. They drip on the floor, but Percy doesn’t seem to mind. He certainly takes his time getting towels, even with Nico shivering in the air conditioned house. “Thank the gods you have tile.”
Percy rubs his hair in a towel and smiles. He rubs the towel on his arms and body, watching as Nico tries to both cloak himself and dry himself off at the same time. It’s distracting, and Nico kind of wonders if he’ll have lost his mind from sheer lust by the end of this venture. “I’ll make dinner if you want to go shower.”
“That’s actually not a bad idea,” Nico says, because he could use both the hot water and a moment to collect himself. Percy points him off in the direction of the bathroom, in case the sun had bleached his brain and he had forgotten, and stalked off towards the kitchen portion of the open room in nothing but drenched boxers and a towel around his waist. Nico is starting to realize that without the cold ocean water to deter his more teenagerish physical reactions, the descent into a horny puddle is pretty quick.
Getting into the bathroom is easy; figuring out the interesting, octopus shaped knobs that control the water is a bit more of a challenge. It’s all worth it once Nico gets his sandy body under the hot spray of the water, even more so once he got a hand around himself. It isn’t going to take long, something he already knew and has been banking on. His hand speeds up as he thinks about the movement of muscles that made up Percy during their water time, his laugh in the sunlight, and he’s so, so close-
Percy knocks on the door. “Hey, dinner’s ready when you are!”
Nico comes so hard, he practically whites out. His lip stings from where he bit into it to stop himself from making noise, and he knows if he doesn’t say something in a second, Percy might feel obligated to come investigate which is definitely a thought for a different time.
“Out in a second,” Nico manages to croak out. He cleans his mess and takes the fastest shower of his life, not even bothering to try and get all of the sand out of his hair. The door opens in a wave of steam, and Nico quickly grabs a shirt and pair of shorts out of his bag. When he reaches kitchen, Percy is already eating. He gives Nico a shrug like that explains everything, and in a way, it does.
The food is obviously microwaved, and Nico is grateful it’s not something ornate that he would feel guilty about letting get cold. They eat in silence, and Nico is still feeling the zen from his time in the shower, which is why when a thought occurs to him, he lets it slip out.
“How do you even have groceries here?” Nico asks, mouth half full. Percy doesn’t seem to mind his terrible table manners, even if he feels like a heathen for having done something like that. Bianca would have had a fit.
“Normally, I just grab my trusty spear and fish for hours on end,” Percy deadpans. Nico snorts.
“Did I scare off your kill of the day?” Nico asks.
“Yep. I guess I’ll have to visit the town on the side of the cliffs later,” Percy says mournfully.
“Town?” Nico asks. “How do you even get up there?”
“I usually just swim a beach over and make my way up. There’s a boat in the caves too.”
“Caves?” Nico asks. He’s been in the water all day; surely he would have noticed caves.
“They’re a little ways down,” Percy says. “I’ll show you tomorrow if you want.”
“Sure,” Nico agrees. “Maybe you can take me to town and get some time in with civilization.”
Percy gives him a look and then a lopsided smile. “If you say so.”