#so now Nico is refusing to tell jason that it bothers him when Jason puts on the camera-mask around him

[jankwritten]

NICO IS A PETTY BITCH. I REPEAT, NICO "ANGEL" DI ANGELO IS A PETTY BITCHY ASSHOLE.

(this announcement brought to you by: Nico refuses to say what's actually bothering him and Jason is paying the price for it.)

[yonemurishiroku]

Something something wondering what would happen if Nico sacrificed in the Gaea war.

Like, he could probably hold on to Gaea and shadow travel with her to the nowhere - because he knew that after having overexerted himself transporting the Athena Pathenos, that trip would make him disappear along with the goddess, forever lost in the shadows, the darkness, the blank. Dissipate. Non existent.

And he could have done it for so many reasons. To put an end to his sufferings. To save those who he saw as friends and saw him as a threat. To make sure that the goddess would never rise again - trapped forever in the nothingness.

Even his soul is gone.

What would the others feel? Or think. (Because it’s not like many of them had bothered to emotionally connect with him anw)

Hazel would undoubtedly be wretched, losing her brother, her only mortal family, who gave her a second chance and would give up anything for her sake. She’d try to keep living, as happiest as she could, because she knew Nico wanted it. But it would never be the same, even when Frank tried so hard for it to be. And now she wished one day he would suddenly jump out of the shadow and scare her to death again. She wouldn’t scream, she wouldn’t complain, she just needed him back.

Hades might be too devastated - losing the only child he hoped so much to be happy - that the god dreaded having any other demigod. He’d remember him, carving his son’s figure in every shadow with which he engulfed himself. Hestia came to him, and for once the tears rolled down the Lord’s cold cheeks.

Jason would probably keep wondering how cruel the Fates must be to deem Nico - who deserved so much happiness - such a heart-wrenching ending. He held Nico’s secret like a memento, a relic, a remembrance, refusing to reveal until eternity. He shared the same pain as Hades - the same way they had both wished Nico the best after everything they knew the boy had gone through, was going through.

Reyna mourned his death as if she had lost a limb. A part of her body. A family member. She praised his sacrifice and called him a hero, yet she let herself agree when Jason said that it wasn’t worth it. Nothing was worth losing Nico.

And the wound inside Percy would never be able to heal. For the guilt would never left and the grief kept persevering, because those conflicting feelings he failed to decipher in Jason’s gaze acted as a harsh reminder and the only one who could tell them away had stop existing.

Bod waiting for eternity in the depths of Tartarus.

And Frank, Piper and Leo with a hollow sensation, suddenly aware of what they had overlooked all those time, yet was still unable to fathom Jason’s pain, let alone Hazel’s, because they had the chance to try yet let it slip.

And the Camps. With people who only knew about the son of Hades as a hero saving the day - like every hero in the demigods’ history - but not his immense sufferings, which they had, intentionally or not, contributed to.

Nico di Angelo was gone, leaving not ash but opening wounds.

[chameleonwritess]

Feels Like Home (Ch3)

Myriad of Stars

Not-So-Secretly in Love

Feels Like Home (Ch1 | Ch2 | Ch3)

Forever Starts Today (Epilogue)

Extras:

Infirmary Duties

Fandom: Percy Jackson

Pairing: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace

Winter is upon Camp Halfblood and Nico is panicking. What in Hades is he supposed to get his boyfriend for Christmas?

Word Count: 6300

Read the whole Myriad of Stars series on AO3

To put it simply, Nico was panicking. Will was due to return later that day and Cecil had very unpleasantly reminded him of a Christmas tradition just that morning. Considering all of Nico’s previous Christmases had been spent rather separated from the festivities, he had almost completely forgotten about it altogether.

“So, what are you getting Will for Christmas?” Cecil had asked casually as the two made their way to the canoe lake for a session with the Aphrodite and other Hermes kids.

Nico stopped walking.

“Dude, please tell me you remembered to get your boyfriend a gift,” Cecil said, noticing his shock at the statement.

“I, uh,” Nico began, wondering how he could phrase this without seeming like a terrible person, “I sort of forgot that people gave gifts?”

“You what? Nico it’s Christmas!” Cecil practically yelled.

“I’ve not exactly had the best experiences of Christmas over the years,” Nico snapped back as a means of defence, but as soon as he noticed Cecil stumble backwards at his abrupt tone, he relented. “I’m sorry. I’ve not really been around anyone else at Christmas before and now I have to get Will a gift or he’s going to think I’m a terrible boyfriend. What do you even give people on Christmas? How am I going to get something?”

“Do I hear relationship problems?” a girl’s chipper voice piped up from behind Cecil and a panicking Nico. Nico turned around to see Lacy and Mitchell from the Aphrodite cabin, also headed down to the canoe lake.

“Not really,” Nico huffed. He refused to resort to advice from the children of the goddess of love.

“Yes,” Cecil butted in, “Nico hasn’t got Will a Christmas present yet. He arrives back at Camp today.”

“Oh, that’s bad,” Lacy sighed.

“Not that bad,” Mitchell added helpfully, “Christmas is still a couple of weeks away.”

“I’m going to Camp Jupiter next week, though,” Nico pointed out, “I promised my sister. And Frank, Reyna, Piper and Jason.”

“Hey, maybe they can help you find something over there!” Lacy grinned cheerfully. Nico raised an eyebrow.

“Have you been to New Rome? It’s hardly a place I can find a Christmas gift.”

“I can always steal something for you,” Cecil added helpfully. Nico sent him a quick glare that shut him up in seconds.

“What sort of thing do I even get him?” Nico asked exasperatedly. Lacy and Mitchell looked at each other thoughtfully and before Nico knew it, he was spending the day floating on the canoe lake with Cecil, Lacy and Mitchell, deciding what he could possibly get Will for Christmas that wasn’t too expensive, too cheesy, something Will would dislike or something Nico would never get him.

“This is impossible!” Lacy huffed two hours later as the four made their way back to the Mess Hall, “why can’t I think of anything that’s just right?”

“What’s impossible?” an all too familiar voice asked from behind them. Nico spun around faster than lightning and before he could even consider what he was doing, his arms were thrown around Will Solace’s neck as his boyfriend picked him up and spun him around.

“You’re back,” Nico stated very obviously, not even attempting to hide the grin on his face at Will’s return.

“Miss me?” Will asked, leaning his face down towards Nico. Nico didn’t even bother to respond, taking Will’s actions as invitation enough to place his hands on either side of Will’s face and kiss him.

Will made a contented hum that had Nico’s heart skipping a beat before he drew back, keeping his hands firmly on Nico’s waist.

“‘I’ll take that as a yes,” Will smirked. Nico rolled his eyes when a short cough interrupted the moment between the two.

“Nico, if you wanna drop by our cabin later you can do. I guess you two probably want to… catch up,” Mitchell offered. Nico had the decency to at least blush red at the act of affection he’d so openly displayed in front of the others.

“Yeah, uh, sorry. I’ll probably drop by,” he said.

“Please go to the Hades cabin or something before you start making out, though. I don’t want to see my two bros swapping saliva again,” Cecil begged as an afterthought just as the three began to leave.

“Shut up, Cecil,” Nico huffed, his cheeks still glowing red. Cecil chuckled and waved.

“Have fun, lovebirds.”

“So do you want to heed Cecil’s advice, or-?” Will started, tilting his head endearingly with a mischievous smile gracing his lips. Nico looked at him properly for the first time since his return.

If Nico didn’t know better, he’d think Will had grown again which was completely unfair considering he already had several inches on Nico. His skin also seemed slightly less tanned than it had in the summer. Nico supposed the sun was out less at the moment, though, so it was only natural.

Will’s hair also seemed a bit longer, falling into his eyes a little more than it had in summer. Nico fought the urge to run his fingers through it. He could do that later. For now, he wanted nothing more than to indeed follow Cecil’s suggestion.

“Holy Hera, you’re infuriating,” Nico commented as Will continued to look down at Nico with a bemused expression, “now get to my cabin and kiss me, Solace.”

Will didn’t need telling twice. Nico supposed they could properly catch up with words later. Right now, all he wanted was to feel Will’s lips against his own again. He’d missed Will a lot, after all.

Nico didn’t remember to drop by the Aphrodite cabin later that evening. Lacy and Mitchell weren’t exactly surprised, though. They’d suspected Nico might have some more important catching up to do, after all.

Nico didn’t really want to go to New Rome. Especially now that Will was back, but a promise was a promise and he still really needed help on what to get Will for Christmas. Still, now he could wake up to blond hair tickling his face, curled up in Will’s arms in the Hades cabin again, Nico really didn’t want to leave for a week.

That’s why he did a very stupid thing.

“Will,” he said softly, poking Will’s cheek as an attempt to wake him. It was usually never difficult to get Will up in a morning, especially with his father being the sun god, but with it being winter, it was still too dark outside for Will to have received the memo that it was indeed morning.

“Ten more minutes,” Will groaned in response, rolling over to bury his face in the pillow. Nico resisted the urge to allow his boyfriend those ten more minutes purely because he was adorable in the morning and Nico could stare at him forever.

“Absolutely not,” Nico forced himself to say, “I need to ask you something.”

“If you want to get married, my answer’s yes,” Will mumbled into the pillow, still not getting up. Nico spluttered and pushed Will off the bed. He had definitely not been about to ask that. Now his heart was racing at a ridiculous pace and the only thought running through his head was an older Will in a tux.

“Nico!” Will complained as he fell onto the floor from Nico’s push.

“Don’t say stuff like that!” Nico justified. Will rolled his eyes and sat cross legged on the floor, staring up at Nico with a small pout. Nico had never been a morning person but whenever Will was around, he found himself growing to really love them. Not that Will would ever know.

“Do you want to go to Camp Jupiter with me tomorrow?” Nico finally asked. Will’s eyes lit up.

“Yes!” he grinned, “will it be decorated for Christmas? Oh, I’ll finally get to meet your sister properly.”

Nico chuckled at Will’s enthusiasm, ignoring the reprimands from his head that he had no chance of getting a Christmas gift for Will if Will was there.

Still, with Will’s excitement that the two would be together for a week longer than they’d thought, Nico couldn’t bring himself to regret the decision.

Camp Jupiter, just as Will had hoped, was decorated for Christmas. Nico couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of Reyna sat in a throne decorated with tinsel, scowling at the snowflakes on the table next to a grinning Frank wearing a party hat from a cracker.

“Nico!” Hazel exclaimed as soon as she spotted him, throwing her arms around her older brother. Nico hugged her back, relieved that Hazel was still shorter than him. He was pretty sure she was the only person who was.

“Hey, Nico! Will!” another familiar voice called out. Piper and Jason had been sat with Hazel at Fifth Cohort’s table. Piper ran up to Nico and also threw her arms around him. Luckily for Nico, she hadn’t grown and was still about the same height as him.

The same could not be said for Jason who ruffled Nico’s hair affectionately before pulling him into a bone crushing hug.

“We missed you, man,” he said, “how’ve you been?”

Nico glanced back at Will and gave Jason a wry smile.

“Pretty good,” he said, “Camp rebuilding went well. We’re still working on new statues and cabins thanks to your stupid promise, though.”

Jason rubbed the back of his neck guiltily.

“Sorry,” he apologised, “you’re looking good from all the building, though!”

Nico heard Will clear his throat behind Nico before his hand intertwined with Nico’s own.

“Jealousy, thy name is Will,” Nico muttered, nudging his boyfriend with his hip.

“Shut up, di Angelo,” Will retorted, pushing Nico back.

“So,” Hazel cooed, “this is the elusive ‘Will Solace’ I’ve been hearing all about.”

“I wasn’t going to bring him,” Nico shrugged, “but he insisted.”

“That is not how it happened at all!” Will replied indignantly, “you asked me because you couldn’t bear being without me for a week.”

“Well someone’s developed an ego,” Nico retorted.

“Please,” Will rolled his eyes, “like you don’t get all soft for me in the morning.”

Nico noticed Hazel turn to Piper and Jason with a look of concern on her face. Piper just laughed.

“Don’t worry, they’re always like this. It’s adorable,” she said.

“Will’s helped Nico a lot. Loads more than the rest of us could,” Jason promised. Hazel turned back to her brother and smiled at him.

“Good,” she nodded, “I approve.”

“I don’t need your approval,” Nico grumbled but he was smiling all the same.

“I had to get my siblings’ approval!” Will complained. Nico snorted and turned to Will with a raised eyebrow.

“Kayla approved?” he asked. Will shrugged.

“Not quite. If I remember correctly, and I do, her exact words were ‘For Zeus’s sake, Will, if you don’t stop waxing poetry about Nico and snog him, I’ll snog him myself!’” he said. Nico snorted with laughter.

“You two need to come and sit at our table instead of just standing in the middle of nowhere,” Hazel decided.

“Yeah, quit flirting where everyone can see and save those eyes for the bedroom,” Piper rolled her eyes with a mischievous grin.

“Piper!” Will, Nico and Jason spluttered indignantly.

“Before you do sit down, though,” Jason added, “I think there’s a couple more people who might be interested in saying hello.”

Nico glanced up to the Praetor’s table where Reyna and Frank were looking in his direction with bemused smirks. Nico let a small smile tug at the corners of his mouth as he pulled Will’s hand in the direction of the Praetors.

He could already tell this would be the best Christmas of his life.

Nico’s trip to Camp Jupiter ended far too soon for his liking. Whilst it had been great to catch up with Hazel, Reyna, Frank, Piper and Jason, he knew he was running out of time to get a gift for Will, especially when Nico spent nearly every waking moment with him.

Lacy and Mitchell were not best pleased when Nico returned.

“Nico, it’s like you don’t want to get him anything,” Lacy huffed, “why did you take him with you?”

“You’re a child of Aphrodite, figure it out,” Nico muttered, his cheeks flushing pink. Mitchell patted him on the back which didn’t really feel all that comforting.

“It’s okay. Have you asked Chiron about going out into town? Maybe you could buy him something there,” he suggested.

“I’d spend hours wandering around not knowing what to do,” Nico pointed out, “plus after the trick I pulled with getting a ‘doctor’s note’ to sit with Will at mealtimes, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t let me go without Will.”

“Why don’t you ask his mom?” Lacy suggested. Nico shook his head. The thought of asking Naomi Solace what he should get for her son was far too embarrassing.

“Oh please,” a voice that had not previously been in the conversation drawled, “just ask Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. They arrived at Camp for Christmas yesterday and they always seem to have the answer to everything.”

Nico whipped his head around to find that the voice had belonged to Drew Tanaka. Nico had never really gotten on with Drew, not that he’d tried, and after Piper’s complaints he wasn’t sure he wanted to. Strangely, Drew’s advice didn’t seem all that bad.

“Um, thanks?” Nico responded awkwardly. Drew shrugged her shoulders and continued filing her nails.

“It’s no biggie,” she said, “I do have some idea about relationships. Percy’s at the Mess Hall if you want to catch him.”

Nico got to his feet.

“Thanks, Lacy, Mitchell. I think it might help to at least ask them,” he agreed. The two Aphrodite kids nodded and Nico made his way to the door.

“Oh, and Nico, sweetie?” Drew added. Nico turned hesitantly towards her again, “don’t break Will’s heart. Gods know we need some good things in our lives.”

Nico nodded his head.

“Right, I won’t.”

Drew’s usual tune was that you had to break a heart. Nico couldn’t help but wonder what exactly had brought about Drew’s change of mind but he wasn’t about to ask. He wondered if it had anything to do with the striped pink flag he’d noticed on her mirror. It looked like something he should recognise but couldn’t put a name to.

Pushing thoughts of the Aphrodite cabin out of his head, Nico approached the Big Three table, occupied only by Percy Jackson, just as Drew had promised.

Nico slid into the seat opposite him.

“How’s college going?” Nico asked. Percy grinned.

“Nico! Good to see you again,” he declared, “college is hard. I feel stupid. Reading just takes so long.”

Nico knew his struggle. Most demigods had dyslexia, Nico included, and reading English was often quite a nightmare.

“You’ve got Annabeth there, though. You can do anything,” Nico promised. Percy smiled.

“I suppose you’re right. How’ve you been?” he asked.

Nico sighed, “I actually came to ask your help on something,” he admitted. Percy leaned closer and raised an eyebrow, motioning for Nico to continue.

“I don’t know what to get Will for Christmas. I don’t want it to be some generic gift but I don’t want it to be too big of a deal because it’s just a Christmas gift and I can’t seem to think of anything in between,” Nico spluttered.

Percy didn’t respond immediately. Instead, his eyes darkened and his eyebrows furrowed. Nico knew why monsters shied away as soon as they met Percy. If the son of Hades hadn’t known him for as long as he had, the look Percy was giving him would have terrified him. Nico often thought Percy didn’t know how intimidating he could look when he was deep in thought.

His eyes represented a sea in more than just their colour. They could easily become dark and mysterious, a reflection of the terrors Percy himself had witnessed.

“How do you feel about sentimentality?” Percy finally responded, his expression changing in the blink of an eye.

“Oh, uh, it depends what you’re thinking,” Nico spluttered, having been lost in thought, himself.

“I mean, Will’s helped you to escape the ghosts of your past a lot, right?” Percy asked. Nico nodded. “What about something that showed him how grateful you were for that. Something that means a lot to you and your past.”

“I- don’t really know what you mean,” Nico shook his head in confusion.

“The Hades Statue,” Percy clarified at last. Nico looked at Percy with wide eyes. For a time, Nico had hated the statue. It had been the last gift his sister had ever given him but it was a reminder of the fact that Percy had broken his promise. Now Nico was older, he realised just how much Percy had been trying to tell him that Bianca might not have been safe.

Young Nico wouldn’t listen, though, and then he’d had his heart broken.

Sometimes Nico forgot how intelligent Percy was, especially because he was dating Annabeth. His intelligence wasn’t the same as Annabeth’s analytical, strategic intelligence, though- Percy’s intelligence was impulsive and, in a way Nico didn’t think Percy realised himself, manipulative.

Percy’s suggestion was actually incredible. Will had helped Nico talk about his feelings, something that if Nico had done at the time he found out about Bianca, would have saved a lot of hurt and heartbreak. Will had promised to always be there for Nico just as the statue was a reminder for Nico that Bianca was always watching over him, too, even in death.

Giving the statue to Will would be Nico’s way of telling Will that he truly trusted him. That he wasn’t going to ever leave Will behind. That he wanted Will in his life. Nico’s mind couldn’t help but flicker to the marriage comment Will had made about a week ago. Demigods often died young and many didn’t make it to marriage age. Nico supposed that this was his own sort of promise to Will of ’Til death us do part’, despite how young they both were.

Strangely, it wasn’t an idea that even scared Nico in the slightest.

“Thank you, Percy,” Nico smiled, “that’s actually a really good idea.”

Percy nodded, “glad I could help. Don’t tell Annabeth you came to me first, though- she’ll be salty for weeks.”

Nico grinned, “I suppose I’d better go and say hello to her, too.”

“Hey, Nico,” Percy stopped Nico from standing up by placing a hand on his shoulder, “it’s good to see you so happy.”

Nico nodded, “it’s good to see you alive and uninjured.”

With a small chuckle, Percy released Nico to go and find Annabeth.

Nico woke up to an empty cabin on Christmas morning (Will’s siblings had forced him to stay at his own cabin so they could open presents) and was surprised to find it feeling chillier than normal.

Nico sleepily dragged himself over to the log fire and started lighting a spark. Before he managed to get it started, though, there was a loud knock on his door. Nico grumbled to himself as he got to his feet and stumbled over to it, hoping it was at least Will.

Much to his disappointment, it was not, in fact, Will. Instead, Percy and Annabeth stood in his doorway.

“Merry Christmas, Nico!” Percy grinned. Annabeth stepped forwards and gave him a hug which Nico awkwardly returned.

“We brought you gifts. Can we come in?” Annabeth asked as she released Nico. Nico shrugged.

“Yeah, sure. Just let me get dressed. I only just got up,” he huffed, excusing himself to the bathroom whilst Percy and Annabeth disposed of their coats.

Nico only realised once he was in the bathroom getting dressed that their coats had been coated in white specs. It didn’t rain in camp unless Mr D and Chiron wanted it to. Nico wondered if perhaps Chiron had allowed it to snow purely because it was Christmas. If so, Nico was sort of looking forward to it. He didn’t really have any memory of snow from before.

When Nico returned, nothing looked different but Percy was smirking and looking as if he’d done something. Nico gave him a wary look as he perched down on his bed, opposite where Annabeth and Percy had sat. He supposed there was nothing he could do even if Percy was up to mischief.

“Here’s your present from me, Nico,” Annabeth announced, placing a cuboidal shaped parcel wrapped in penguin paper in Nico’s lap. He picked it up and smirked at Annabeth. It was so obviously a book.

When he opened it, he was surprised to find that it was a mathematics book.

“I know it seems a bit random,” Annabeth explained, “but I just thought since Percy and I are going to school now that if you ever wanted to do the same, you’d need to learn some basic math and English. Of course, you don’t have to go to school but if you wanted to, I’d be happy to help you study.”

Nico had never really considered going to school before. He’d always thought he’d just stay at Camp. Admittedly, Will’s stories of school and now Annabeth’s gift had him curious. Nico did sort of like the idea of learning new things.

“Thanks Annabeth,” he said, finding that he genuinely meant it, “that was a really thoughtful gift.”

“Mine’s a little more fun,” Percy added, handing Nico a more oddly shaped parcel, “Jason gave me the idea and I thought it was great.”

Nico warily accepted the parcel. Whatever Percy and Jason had conspired about together automatically made Nico apprehensive.

Still, he opened the parcel and was surprised to find a plush fall out. Not just any plush, though- it was an Umbreon plush. Nico snorted a small laugh at it.

“When I arrived at Camp Jupiter without memories, I’d been carrying around a panda pillow pet,” Percy launched into an explanation, “it really helped with the nightmares. I know it’s a bit silly but we all need something a little daft in our lives.”

Nico smiled down at the Umbreon. For some reason, the rings of yellow on its coat reminded him of Will.

“It’s really great, Percy. Thank you,” he replied. Percy smiled contentedly as Nico reached over onto his bedside table and grabbed the two parcels for Percy and Annabeth. He hadn’t bought Christmas gifts for many people but he’d already delivered most of them when in New Rome. Percy, Annabeth and Will were the only people he had gifts left for.

“I know it’s not much,” Nico shrugged, “but Merry Christmas or whatever.”

To his surprise, Annabeth grinned down at the owl patterned scarf and Percy was laughing at his pack of Blackjack sweets.

“Oh, Blackjack is gonna love these,” Percy giggled, “thanks, man.”

Nico shrugged again. He’d never been great at giving gifts but Annabeth and Percy didn’t seem too disappointed.

“This is really lovely,” Annabeth smiled, “I must say, considering your cabin interior design I didn’t trust your sense of style too much but you’ve redeemed yourself.”

“Don’t mention the cabin,” Nico rolled his eyes, huffing a laugh all the same. Percy and Annabeth looked into each other’s eyes for a second before they engulfed Nico in a hug.

“Have a good Christmas, Nico. We’ll see you later, yeah?” Percy checked. Nico nodded.

“Yeah. It’s snowing out there, right? I want to see what that’s like,” he admitted. Annabeth’s grey eyes sparkled.

“We’re having a snowball fight,” she declared.

“Woah, Wise Girl, I don’t want to die today,” Percy stuttered.

“Tough,” Annabeth smirked and before Nico could ask what was going on, Annabeth had grabbed Percy’s hand and dragged the two of them out of his cabin.

As the door was flung open, though, another face was revealed in the entrance.

“Do I even want to know?” Will Solace asked. Nico rolled his eyes and walked over to the door with a smile on his face.

“Probably not,” he admitted. Will was dressed in a large navy coat, his blond hair hidden by a ridiculous red bobble hat. Nico thought he looked adorable.

Nico was about to open his mouth to wish Will a Merry Christmas when Will’s eyes wandered up to the doorframe. Nico raised an eyebrow and lifted his gaze too, his mouth falling open when he noticed what was there.

A sprig of mistletoe was hanging from his doorframe.

“Wow, Nico, who knew the holiday spirit would turn you into such a flirt?” Will smirked. Nico furrowed his eyebrows.

“Wait, it wasn’t you who put it there?” he asked. Will shook his head.

“It wasn’t you either?” he asked. Nico shook his head when realisation dawned on him as to why Percy had looked so smug earlier.

“Jackson,” Nico hissed. Will laughed and stepped closer, wrapping an arm around Nico’s waist. His coat was cold from being outside and Nico shivered at the contact, not wearing more than a grey knitted jumper.

“I hope you don’t intend to ignore Christmas tradition,” Will whispered, his breath forming visible vapour right in front of Nico’s own mouth.

“Of course not,” Nico muttered, bringing his arms up to clutch the edge of the ruff on Will’s hood. He tugged the son of Apollo forward slightly and connected their lips, surprised at the warmth of Will’s considering the cold air around them.

Will gave a soft hum as he melted against Nico’s warmth, sending a warm trickle of affection through Nico’s own chest. Nico leaned up into the kiss when a whooping sound behind Will caused him to immediately pull back.

“Percy!” Nico yelled as he caught the sight of dark hair hidden behind one of the trees behind Nico’s cabin.

“Is that Annabeth’s phone in his hand?” Will murmured quietly to Nico. Nico glared at Percy before grabbing Will’s hand and tugging him into the cabin.

“I’m ignoring them. Get in here,” he ordered. Will chuckled and closed the door behind him.

“Wow, eager much,” he smirked. Nico glared at him too.

“Shut up before I kick you out, Solace. I just want to give you your Christmas present,” he rolled his eyes. Will chuckled again before peeling off his coat and hat, revealing a ridiculous Christmas jumper underneath, covered in cartoon reindeers. Nico snorted at the design.

“You’re such a dork,” he said.

“At least I don’t dress like the Grinch personally designed my Christmas jumper,” Will retorted. Nico furrowed his eyebrows.

“Who?”

“I forget you weren’t born in this generation. You’ve missed so much, di Angelo,” Will sighed, flopping down on Nico’s bed way more dramatically than was necessary.

“I doubt that,” Nico commented as he grabbed Will’s present and shuffled up to Will on his bed, hoping the son of Apollo would keep him warm. He’d grown quite cold thanks to the prolonged opening of his door, “Merry Christmas,” he added, handing the gift to Will.

Will looked at it curiously with a smile on his face. Nico wondered if Will could hear how loudly his heart was thumping against his chest. He didn’t think he’d ever been so nervous about giving someone a gift before.

“Nico,” Will gasped softly, “is this-“

“I know it’s probably a stupid idea,” Nico blushed, “but I wanted you to have it. You’ve helped me to move on from the darkness I carried with me after Bianca’s death so much and I wanted to give you something to show you how grateful I was for that. It’s a silly gift. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea after all-“

Nico was cut off from his fast ramble by a pair of warm lips briefly pressing against his. Nico noticed that Will had tears in his eyes when he drew away.

“I love it,” Will said, “and it isn’t silly or stupid or anything. I understand how important this statue is to you and the fact that you would give it me,” Will choked up for a second, “it means so much. Nico, I really love you.”

“I know,” Nico smiled as Will clutched the statue against his chest and buried his face in Nico’s neck. Nico could feel the dampness of Will’s tears against his neck. “I love you too.”

The two remained there for a moment or two, quietly enjoying the other’s company before Will sat up abruptly.

“I need to give you your gift,” he realised before thrusting a parcel towards Nico, “I don’t think I could ever top your gift but I tried.”

The present was quite bulky but didn’t feel overly heavy. Intrigued, Nico tore into the wrapping paper.

Inside the paper sat a black fur lined corduroy jacket. Nico smiled at it. It was just his kind of thing.

“Open it out,” Will leaned over to whisper in Nico’s ear. Nico heeded his advice and laughed out loud when he spotted the sun stitched onto the top pocket.

“I wanted to sew the patch slightly more to the right so that it would be closer to where your actual heart lies but Austin told me that was stupid and most people think the heart is further to the left anyway so you wouldn’t mind,” Will started to ramble. Nico laughed again and leaned his head on Will’s shoulder.

“You’re such a medical dork,” he snickered, “you really sewed this on yourself?”

Will nodded, “I’ve got the band-aids to prove it,” he said, wiggling his fingers to show Nico. Nico noticed that there were, indeed, three band-aids plastered over the ends of his fingers.

“I love it,” Nico said, “thank you.”

Will gave Nico a watery smile before swooping down and kissing him quickly yet again.

“What do you think about going outside and joining Percy and Annabeth’s snowball fight?” Will suggested. Nico’s eyes lit up at the suggestion.

“You’re on, Solace,” he smirked, tugging on his new jacket to race his boyfriend to the door.

When Nico returned to his cabin half an hour later, dripping wet with residual snow and dragging an equally as soaked Will into the Hades cabin with him, kissing him fiercely as soon as the door was closed, Nico couldn’t help but think that it had to be his best Christmas so far.

All the other campers that had returned for Christmas were back at school by the start of February. Will, however, had happily informed Nico that he was actually staying until March as the cold winds of late winter and early spring tended to bring about the most climbing wall and canoe lake injuries.

That’s when the disappearances started. Nico tried to ignore them- he could still sense their auras and knew they weren’t dead, but any attempts of searching for them had failed. Will was at least reassured to hear they were alive, even if Nico could tell he was blaming himself for somehow not being able to take care of them.

Nico didn’t know why Will felt the need to take responsibility for anything that could be slightly related to his healing so he advised the son of Apollo to take a day away from the infirmary to actually relax for once. He hadn’t quite expected their peaceful afternoon to be interrupted by Kayla knocking at the Hades cabin door.

“Will, are you in there?” she yelled. Nico rolled his eyes. Way to greet the owner of the cabin first.

“I’ll tell her to get lost,” Nico assured Will as he stood up from the bed they had been playing Pokémon on and opened the cabin door.

“Can’t it wait, Kayla? Will’s on his break from infirmary duties,” Nico asked. Kayla’s face looked exceptionally pale, though and the worried look in her eyes had Nico anxious that it really wasn’t something that could wait.

“I don’t think it can. There’s been… an incident,” she muttered, chewing her lip.

Nico turned around and shrugged his shoulders at Will who mustered a smile and came to join the pair at the door.

“Well, what am waiting for? Let’s see what’s happened now,” he said cheerily before turning to Nico. “I’ll be back soon,” he promised kissing Nico’s cheek. He turned around so that Kayla wouldn’t see his blush.

“Yeah, good luck,” Nico muttered as the two children of Apollo left his cabin.

It was about an hour until Will returned, bringing news Nico was certainly not ready for. Apollo was at Camp Half-Blood. And he was mortal.

When Will brought Nico to visit him, he also discovered that Apollo happened to be surrounded by a strong aura of death.

Nico voiced his concerns aloud and Will scolded him, elbowing him gently in the side.

“I apologise for my boyfriend,” he said as Nico’s cheeks flushed red. That was Will’s father and he had just announced they were dating to him like it was no big deal.

“Could you not,” Nico complained. Will’s grin only grew.

“Would you prefer ‘Special guy’ or ‘Significant Other’?” he teased. Nico huffed.

“Significant annoyance in your case,” he grumbled. He didn’t get chance to argue more as Chiron drew their attention back to the unfortunately more pressing issue. Apollo was at Camp Halfblood. Mortal. And apparently bound to some demigod named Meg who was already causing havoc. Nico suspected she’d fit in well.

Still, with the disappearances followed by Apollo’s arrival, Nico was getting slightly concerned about their safety. He really didn’t feel like fighting in another war, especially when he’d just started to settle into Camp.

When Will and Nico were excused from the conversation, Nico dragged Will to their favourite spot amongst the trees behind the Hades cabin.

“So,” he started, “your dad’s at Camp. How do you feel?”

Nico knew Will sometimes got mad at his father. Pretty much every halfblood got mad at their godly parent at least once a month and despite Nico’s frequent visits to the Underworld to see his father, he himself was no exception.

“Confused,” Will sighed, “scared. Slightly angry?”

“That’s understandable. I’d be furious if it were me. Your dad shows no sign of even being alive since summer and suddenly he shows up at Camp and begs for our help,” Nico agreed. Will nodded and placed his hand over Nico’s on the ground.

“I want to be really mad at Apollo. The thing is, I know I’m going to help him. I can’t not help him. He’s my father, after all and I just want to be able to heal everyone anyway,” Will exclaimed, an expression of frustration growing on his face, “I just want to tell him to help himself for once, though. When was he ever there for me when I needed his assistance? Where was he when I cried myself to sleep at night, wishing I had archery skill or musical ability or something other than lousy healing?”

“Hey,” Nico said softly, “your healing is anything but lousy and nearly everyone here at Camp owes you their life at least once. I know exactly why you’re mad but I also think we should help him, too. I mean, if the fate of the world ends up lying on Apollo in mortal form, we’re pretty much screwed.”

Will huffed a laugh and squeezed Nico’s hand a bit tighter.

“And for what it’s worth,” Nico continued, “I think you’re the strongest Apollo camper there is. You’re the best healer Camp has seen in years, you have one of the fiercest and yet most caring personalities I’ve ever known, your sword fighting has improved so much lately and I’m pretty sure I’ve literally seen you emit sunlight when sparring before now.”

“That last one’s a lie,” Will snorted, nudging his shoulder into Nico. Nico smirked back.

“Don’t believe me, then,” he shrugged, “don’t think you haven’t been blessed by Apollo, though. You really have. And if not, then I guess we can place responsibility for your personality on your mum.”

“She also takes credit for my ‘devilishly handsome looks’,” Will added with a grin. Nico rolled his eyes and laughed, leaning into Will’s side.

“She’s not wrong,” he commented. Will didn’t respond, simply smiling as he wrapped an arm around Nico’s back and leant against the tree behind him to support both of their weights.

“I feel like the world’s about to end again,” Nico admitted quietly. Apollo’s return had sent Nico into quiet panic since he first saw him.

“I know,” Will agreed, “but do you know what’s different this time?”

Nico shifted himself in Will’s grasp to look up at him.

“What?” he asked.

“We have each other,” Will said. Nico snorted a laugh.

“You’re so cheesy,” he complained.

“You love it,” Will shrugged, “Hey, even if I die, at least you can come visit me in the Underworld.”

“Don’t even joke about it,” Nico warned, “besides, it doesn’t work like that and you’re not going to die.”

“How can you be so sure?” Will teased, although Nico noted the slightly more serious undertone to it.

“Because,” Nico began, connecting his eyes with Will’s, “I’ll be there to fight and protect you.”

Nico was pretty sure if he hadn’t had a theory that Will emitted sunlight before then, the beaming smile that lit up Will’s face at his comment would have confirmed it.

“Good job I’ll always be there to heal you if you get injured,” Will promised quietly, sending a rush of warmth through Nico’s own face.

As Nico tilted his head up to slot their lips together, he couldn’t help but smile. Never had he imagined he might find someone that balanced him out as perfectly as Will Solace did.

For the first time, Nico held hope for just what his future would hold after the battle. With Will by his side, it couldn’t be anything but bright.

[nicostolemybones]

Hey, I got a prompt for you. Demigod Truth Or Dare.

I decided the opportunity for angst was irresistible, so I hope you don’t mind that :/ 

tw: homophobia

The Truth Won’t Out Willingly

“Truth or dare?”

Nico swallowed thickly. He just knew this was going to end badly, of course he did. Especially based on the smirk on the son of Eros’s face as he asked. He wasn’t going to risk a dare. He could already see the way the boy’s eyes raked down his body like he was a piece of meat, and flickered to the eyes of the other boys and back to Nico. Nico just knew he’d dare him to kiss one of them, and Nico did not want to be outed, humiliated like that. He was not a performance for the entertainment of others. “Truth,” Nico replied in a measured voice. There was a pause whilst the son of Eros leaned back, a dangerous smirk crossing his lips. He looked at Nico like Nico was weak, like he could feel the fear radiating. Nico supposed the death aura currently killing the strawberry plants in the field might have been giving it away. Nico picked at a strand of dead grass, angrily throwing it and accidentally summoning a crow skull, which landed across the circle at Annabeth. What terrible fucking irony, Nico scowled. The son of Eros gave an amused hum. 

“Which girl did you last have a crush on, di Angelo. And remember, liars forfeit.” Nico refused to be trapped by that. He had a lie, and he’d been bold enough to tell it to Cupid, convincing enough that Annabeth had even believed it herself at one point. 

“Annabeth,” Nico replied, making direct eye contact. The son of Eros snorted a laugh that attracted the attention of the other players, who began looking wearily at Nico, like some of them suspected him. 

“Really?”

“One question at a time,” Jason interrupted, and Nico scowled at him. He didn’t want Jason to fight battles he was capable of fighting himself.

“Yes, really,” Nico replied, hyper aware of the tension in his voice. He cleared his throat, waving his arm casually in Annabeth’s direction, grateful for the puce tinge his embarrassment had given him. “I like blondes.” Nico chanced a glance around the circle, to Annabeth first. She didn’t look uncomfortable, although she gave Nico a lopsided sympathetic smile, because she knew what was going on, but as she took Percy’s hand, it could easily be interpreted as a smile of apology. He looked to Jason, scared he’d see uncomfortableness on his face, but Jason looked no more uncomfortable by the revelation of Nico’s type than he did when Percy talked about Annabeth. Good, he thought to himself, he had allies he could trust. He looked to Percy, who was deep in thought as he looked around the weary faces, like he was finally realising why Nico felt the need to tell him that he wasn’t his type. Because Nico just knew that revealing his sexuality made people uncomfortable, made people fear his company, like he was a predator. Percy seemed to finally understand that it was never about Nico getting one over on him, but rather Nico protecting himself from the pervert label homophobes liked to slap on him. Percy looked like he finally understood, and he gave Nico a sad smile. Nico didn’t want pity, he didn’t want to be looked at like a kid who just lost his puppy, or like a kid who was sick. He was gay, not sick. He knew it was supposed to be sympathy, but Nico didn’t want to have to face the uncomfortableness of people’s sympathy. Sympathy was for death cards, with deepest symathy, and Nico hadn’t lost someone, wasn’t dead, he was gay. 

“Truth or dare,” Nico eventually asked Piper, who picked dare. Of course she did, and Leo leaned over to whisper in Nico’s ear, giggling. 

“Please make her dump a bucket of ice water over Jason,” Leo wheezed, and Nico smirked, looking to Piper, and then to Jason. Jason’s face resembled a clear thought of oh no, then Nico crossed the circle to Piper, and whispered in her ear. Piper giggled and snorted, running off to go and get the ice bucket. Leo was wheezing with laughter when Nico sat back down, leaning on Nico’s shoulder with his elbow for stability. Nico wondered if Leo would still feel so comfortable if he knew Nico’s secret, or if he’d suddenly change his view of platonic intimacy with other guys to exclude Nico out of the arrogant assumption that Nico would want every boy he ever laid eyes on. Nico felt paranoid, but he knew he had a valid reason for being so cautious and worried, because he had no idea if the people who called themselves his friends- if they even did- would change how they behaved around him like he was contagious. Nico felt anxiety twisting in his gut, and by the time Piper had dumped a bucket of ice water on Jason, who had promptly sparked up and mildly electrocuted himself, Nico couldn’t focus on the game anymore. All he could think about in his head was all the words he wished he’d said, all the words he wanted to say, but was afraid to say out of fear his experiences would become a discourse on his basic human rights. Nico didn’t have the energy to want to engage in something so toxic to himself. He’d hated himself enough, and he wasn’t ready to have others validate that hate.

Which is why Nico didn’t snap out of his thoughts until he heard a nervous laugh from Will. “Haha, what?”

“Kiss di Angelo,” the son of Eros said, and Nico scowled. He knew shadows were pooling, but he didn’t care. 

“I don’t consent to a kiss,” Will announced calmly, to which Nico heard a son of Ares use a slur to unnecessarily butt in his input of how he didn’t wanna see that. Nico was about to say something when Clarisse gave him a hard slap. 

“If you forfeit, the forefeit is you have to tell everyone your little secret. Or does my father have to pay you a little visit?” Oh. Oh hell no. Oh hell no Cupid wasn’t going to be bothering Will. 

“I’m not telling anyone anything,” Will said firmly, and the son of Eros laughed coldly. 

“Then kiss di Angelo.”

“I already said, I don’t consent to-”

“Then should I tell everyone you’re a dirty little f-”

“You dare use that word,” Nico interrupted in a quiet warning tone, “you dare call him that word and I’ll fucking kill you. And if you dare force him to kiss anybody, I will personally see to it that you’ll find a rotting decapitated head in your bed tonight.”

“Holy shit,” Clarisse muttered, giving Nico an impressed glance.

“I’m merely having a little fun,” the son of Ares said, standing up. Nico was about to speak, but Will stood up too, fists balled at his side and face furiously pink. 

“It’s not fun for me!”

“Oh boo-hoo(!)”

“You’re being a bully!” Will wasn’t going to back down, and Nico had seen what Eros was capable of. He wasn’t going to let Will go through that, so he stood, and he stood by Will’s side. He didn’t say anything- it wasn’t his battle to fight. But he wanted Will to know that he was on his side, always. The Ares camper from before stood by the son of Eros, and suddenly the situation felt dangerous. Nico was prepared to have his head kicked in to protect Will from the gay bashing he knew was about to come. Jason stood, joining Nico and Will, then Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Leo, Clarisse, Reyna, Hazel, Frank, Calypso, Grover, Austin, Kayla, Drew, Katie, Travis, Connor, Cecil, Lou-Ellen- and Nico felt empowered. He would not be afraid and hide in the shadows. 

“Got a problem?” Nico asked, smirking.

“Perverts,” the son of Eros spat. 

“You’re the one trying to force Will to kiss me without his consent, not me. You’re the pervert,” Nico pointed out. 

“Now leave,” Will commanded, and the son of Eros and the son of Ares looked at the crowd of supporters, and walked away without a word. Nico laughed coldly, bitterly, because whether he liked it or not, the truth was probably out there now. Of course they all knew. 

“What was that about,” Hazel asked, shaking her head, although her question was more in disbelief at the confrontation.

“I’m gay,” Nico announced emotionlessly, “deal with it.” There was stony silence for a while.

“So,” Leo began, and Nico prepared for a stupid joke, “any particular blondes?” Was he seriously asking this? Was he seriously asking if Nico had a crush after that confrontation? Nico checked his anger- Leo meant to break the ice and show his support, and Nico knew that. As much as it was terrible timing, and crossed his boundaries, Nico knew he hadn’t communicated his boundaries, and Leo clearly meant nothing but support. There was no malice, so Nico took a few calm, long breaths. 

“I don’t feel like talking about it,” Nico replied, and Leo nodded, putting an arm around his shoulder. 

“And you don’t have to man, but you don’t have to keep it all inside either.” Nico felt warmed by the gesture- Leo had put his arm around him, comfortably so, and it meant the world to Nico that he wasn’t going to be treated any differently than usual. 

“Are you okay, Will,” Nico asked carefully, and Will nodded. 

“Just a little shaken up.”

“Understandable,” Nico replied, “that was scary, huh?”

“I’d rather operate on a cardiac tamponade in a dirty lift with nothing but a capri-sun straw,” Will announced, huffing a soundless laugh and glowing softly, “but I’m grateful for all the support.”

“I’ve no idea what that means,” Percy interjected, “but I’m suddenly doubting your qualifications to run the infirmary, Will.”

“Oh, I have none,” Will replied with a laugh and an exaggerated smile. 

“Are you a quack or a barber surgeon?” Nico quipped, and Drew snickered.

“Oh honey, he’s definitely a quack, he can’t cut hair for toffee.”

“That was one time,” Will huffed, pouting in jest. 

“It was a bowl cut, sweetie,” Drew replied, and Nico snickered.

“You had a bowl cut?” Nico interrupted. 

“It was a long time ago!” Will defended. 

“It was last month,” Lou-Ellen laughed, “literally just before you met,” she clarified for Nico.

“Meanies,” Will pouted, “I looked cute.”

“If you say so,” Nico laughed, and Will hiccupped a light butterfly. Nico found himself fighting the skeletal butterflies resurrecting in his stomach in favour of a smile and a blush he couldn’t fight down. “Are we gonna tell ‘em?” 

“Nah,” Will grinned impishly, “they can figure it out for themselves. For now, truth or dare now the trash got taken out?”

“Sure,” Nico smiled, looking back at his secret boyfriend.

[musiciislife25]

Solangelo Oneshot

Nico was looking out the window as the car drove past signs and buildings. He was trying not to fall asleep because of all the nightmares he was having. Plus, Will Solace was sitting right next to him. He didn't want anyone to be bothered by him, so he sat close to the window. The son of Hades tried to stay up for the last two hours of the ride, but he gave up and went into a deep sleep.

Will, who was reading while stealing glances at Nico, felt a head fall on his shoulder and almost squealed when he say who it was. He became very stiff, and tried not to move, as to not wake Nico up. Leo, who was right next to Will, looked over to see what happened and almost burst out laughing at how red Will's face is. Will was glaring daggers at the smaller male, trying not to yell at him to be quiet. Percy looked back to see what was happening, and let's just say Piper had to charmspeak him and Leo to be quiet.

Will sighed and thanked Piper for shutting both Percy and Leo up. He looked over towards Nico, who was still asleep, and carefully moved his head from his shoulder, to his lap. Luckily, Nico didn't make any sign to show he was awake, so Will started to stroke his hair. "You know, you should just ask him out already." Annabeth said from the drivers seat. "I-I would, but I doubt he feels the same way." Will said, looking at Nico sadly.

Annabeth sighed, knowing the two of them were to shy and nervous to confess to each other. "I'm going to warn you right now, so listen very carefully." Leo started to tell Will. "A lot of people are going to try to get you and Nico together, so be careful of everyone's shenanigans." He finished his warning. "How exactly do you know that?" Will asked, somewhat scared of Leo's answer. "They did it with me and Calypso, even though we were already dating." Leo said, looking at Will with pity in his eyes.

'How bad could they be to make Leo scared?' Will thought to himself, starting to get worried. He looked down at Nico, and noticed he was shivering. Silently he pulled Nico closer to him, running his fingers threw Nico's hair. By the time they got to Camp Jupiter it was late at night. Surprisingly only two of them, besides Nico, had fallen asleep.

Jason and Leo sighed as they got out of the car and picked up their respective girlfriends. Piper slightly shifted when Jason picked her up, while Calypso just tried to get closer to Leo. Will looked down at Nico, who was still on his lap, and carefully picked him up, and carried him out of the car. Once he was out of the car, he sat Nico down. "Hey Neeks? Wake up. We're at Camp Jupiter." Will said, gently shaking Nico, to try and wake him up.

"No." Nico groaned, clearly not wanting to get up. Will sighed and kept trying to get him up. The whole time Nico was refusing to get up because he was so tired from not sleeping. "Fine, you leave me no choice but to carry you." Will said, making Nico somewhat blush and tense. "Fine, I'm up." He grumbled reluctantly. Will smiled, knowing he won.

"C'mon death breath, let's get you into a bed." Will said. "At least take me to dinner before trying to get me in bed with you." Nico said without thinking, but blushed really hard when he realized what he said. Will was a blushing mess because of what Nico had said. "Well I guess I'll have to take you out when we have free time then." Will said, quickly recovering from what Nico had said earlier. "I, uh, um. I-I don't know what to say." Nico stuttered out.

Will laughed at how cute Nico was when he stuttered. Nico slightly looked at Will, and blushed at how amazing he is. "Anyways, let's go and find the others." Will said, getting up and reaching his hand out to help Nico up. "Yeah, let's do that." Nico said, taking Will's hand. As they were walking, they noticed Percy sneaking behind them.

"Percy, what are you doing?" Will said, getting annoyed by the son Poseidon. "I-I, um, I was looking for you two!" He lied. Will and Nico looked at each other, then looked towards Percy with a look along the lines of 'You really think we're going to believe that'. "Okay, Jason told me to spy on you!" Percy said, quickly running away. Will was confused, while Nico sighed.

"Y'know I'd rather not know what they're up to." Will said, wanting to hug the smaller male. Nico nodded in agreement with Will, slowly moving close to him. "NICO!" They heard an excited voice yell. Suddenly Nico was on the ground with Hazel hugging him. Will tried not to laugh, but he couldn't help it. After he was done laughing, he smiled at the siblings.

Will looked behind him and noticed a worried Frank coming to get Hazel. "I thought I told you to not jump on him when you saw him." Frank said, hoping he wouldn't have to talk common sense into his group of friends. "Sorry." Hazel said, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. "It's fine." Nico said, getting up. As they were all talking, Reyna walked up to them.

"Hello Nico, Will." She said, making Nico, Frank, and Hazel jump. "Oh my gods. Reyna you shouldn't just sneak up on someone like that!" Hazel said, hand on her heart. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that you three didn't notice me." She said. Frank was confused as to why she said three. "What do you mean by three? There are four of us." Frank said.

"Oh, Will had saw me walking up, so I thought you knew I was behind you." Reyna answered. They all faced Will, who was staring in another direction. "Will, what's wrong?" Hazel asked, worried as to why he kept staring at one spot. "Percy and Jason are spying on us." He said, looking annoyed. They all just nodded their head in understanding.

They were all targeted by Percy and Jason when they said they liked someone. Frank with Hazel, and Reyna with Thalia. Nico knew this because he's seen it done before. "Well, I'm tired so where can we sleep?" Will asked, this being the second time he's visited New Rome. "Follow me, and I'll show you." Reyna said.

Once they got to their rooms/bunks, Nico and Will immediately went to a bed. Nico was somewhat scared to go to sleep. He didn't want to start having nightmares about Tartarus again. "Night Neeks." Will said. "Night Will." Nico said, smiling at the nickname will called him.

Nico had hoped he wouldn't have any nightmares about Tartarus, but he isn't very lucky. He woke up later that night in a cold sweat, crying. He felt someone beside him, so he tried to look away so whoever it was wouldn't see him crying. "Neeks? Are you okay? Do you want to talk about what you were dreaming?" Will kept asking, making Nico want to curl up and hide. "D-did I wake you up?" He asked, ignoring Will's questions.

"I heard you scream, so I got up to see if you were okay." Will said, picking Nico up and placing him on his lap. Nico blushed when he did this, but he held onto the others shirt. "Do you want to talk about it?" Will asked again. "I-I had another nightmare about when I was in Tartarus." Nico said, burying his head in the others neck. Will slowly wrapped his arms around Nico, giving him a hug to try and calm him down.

"Have you calmed down enough to go back to sleep?" Will asked. "Um, I think so." Nico said, not letting go of him. "Alright then, is it okay if go back to my own bed? Cause I'm pretty sure Reyna, Jason, and Percy would kill me if they found us in the same bed together." Will said, sweat dropping at what would happen if someone walked in with no context of what happened that night. "Can you stay with me. You help calm me down." Nico told him, not really realizing what he said. "Um, okay then." Will said, blushing really hard now.

Will laid Nico back down on the bed, and soon got in with him. After they did that, Nico didn't have anymore dreams of Tartarus that night. When they woke up, they were both blushing. They woke up cuddling each other when Piper walked in and awed loud enough to wake them up. Piper was lucky enough to get a picture of them before they woke up.

"Just confess to each other already." She said as she walked out. They both blushed even harder after she said that. "Well, I guess her and Annabeth are right." Will started to say. "Wait, what do you mean?" Nico asked, really confused about what's happening. "Nico, I've liked you for awhile now, and I was wondering if you'd want to be my boyfriend." Will said, getting ready to be rejected.

"Of course I'll be you're boyfriend, you dork!" Nico said, hugging Will as tight as he could. Will was somewhat surprised, but hugged him back. After they separated, Will pecked Nico on the lips, and they started to walk to their friends. Will had his arm around Nico's shoulders, while Nico had his head resting on Will's shoulder. After that, they were as happy as life as a demigod could get.

Okay, so here’s the thing, this is MY story. I put the link to the Wattpad book I made it in as the source. I got the ideas from headcannons I saw on Pinterest. I honestly don’t mind taking requests on what to write, so if you request something I know of then I’ll most likely make it. Also, constructive criticism is welcome, just please don’t say anything about how I used the word ‘said’ to much. I know I did, but I honestly could careless about it.

[bubblegumwitchswriting]

The Currency We’ve Spent: Chapter Two

Main Pairing: Will/Nico

Other Pairings: Jason/Piper; Percy/Annabeth; Hazel/Frank; Leo/Calypso

Ao3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15934799/chapters/37506278 

First Chapter (Prologue): here

Previous Chapter: here 

It had been long enough since Jason had inadvertently betrayed them and or (depending on the point of view) accidentally brought their father down on them, that the wounds had healed over. When Jason and Nico came back in, Percy stumbled to his feet and launched himself at Jason, giving his friend a huge hug. Nico stayed just out of arms length - Percy drunk was a lethal combination of absolutely no coordination and no sense of strength and Nico had come close to death by strangulation more than once. Jason, pretty used to handling Percy drunk extradited himself with ease, and let Percy pull him back into the party circle.

"You're late Jason," Percy complained. "Like really late."

"I know," Jason said. "There was traffic. And I had to pick a couple of people up."

Nico turned rapidly to Jason, alarmed by the "couple". Who else was Jason hiding? Nico couldn't take any more surprises. It had to be bad for his health. Could he get Will to write him a note somehow? Dear universe, Nico has been through a lot so please excuse him from further surprises or other unpleasantness. Thanks (soon-ish to be) Doctor Solace.

The universe probably wouldn't pay the slightest bit of attention.

Nico was frowning at Jason trying to silently interrogate him on who this mysterious other person was, and if were any more sudden siblings Nico hadn't known about or seen in years he really would scream. Percy missed the entire thing, Jason just looked confused.

Nico's worries were assuaged anyway, when the door banged open and Leo appeared, blowing a party tooter.

"You can start the party now!" he called cheerily. "I am here!"

Leo was attacked in a death hug that nearly had the two of them on the floor.

"I thought you couldn't make it!" Percy was saying.

"Wouldn't miss this," Leo was saying. "Ooh are we playing games?"

Leo and Percy went back to the circle, Leo grabbed a shot from the bar on the way.

"How do you not drink at these things?" Nico demanded. "It's so stressful."

Jason gave him a wry smile.

"No more so than usual with you lot around," he commented. "Besides you can drink. Nothing stopping you. I honestly thought you'd be out of it by now, telling me all about the benefits of nihilism and orange juice or something."

Nico crossed his arms.

"I don't do that," he said.

"Uh-huh," Jason said.

"You know it must be nearly time to meet the girls," Jason continued, completely ignoring Nico’s glares to glance at his watch. Then he frowned distractedly.

"Hey," he said. "Where's Will?"

"Had to pick up a secret brother," Nico said. "He'll be here soon."

"Nico -" Jason began warningly, but Nico cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"I'm not over-thinking," he said.

"I'm not," he added when Jason seemed unconvinced. "I promised Reyna after all not to be a moron in relationships."

"So you'll listen to her?"

Nico scowled.

"I listen to you all the time. Like when you convinced me my boyfriend was a spy -"

Jason held up his hands in defeat and acceptance.

"Only for Russia and even then only at weekends," a familiar voice said. "Hey Jason."

"Hi Will," Jason said. "Will you tell Nico to stop-overthinking and start drinking?"

Will gave Nico a smirky kind of grin. He was stunning of course, but far from bowling him over like it used to it drew an internal eye roll. And okay maybe a small observation about how the colour of his smart-casual shirt really drew out the colour of his eyes. But over-all he was completely jaded to Will's superficial beauty.

"Go get drunk babe," Will said. Pet names and smirks were Will's weapons of choice in sarcasm and arguments and it was unfair they were so effective.

"Why are you still not drunk?" Will continued. "Have you not been to one of these before?  Do you need me to explain what a stag do is for? Because they seem to be largely for getting everyone really drunk."

Nico stared at him.

"Why don't you tell Jason about the text you got from Luke, honey."

Will's smirk flickered back but then he looked more serious.

"Luke," Jason asked. "You've heard from Luke?"

"Only to say someone called Thalia is in trouble."

Jason went kind of pale, eyes flashing to the door as though he could see into the foyer beyond. Nico nudged Will pointedly.

"Thalia's his sister," he explained in a stage whisper.

Will closed his eyes.

"Well you might have mentioned that before, sweetie, in which case I might have been a bit more gentle with that news."

"It's fine," Jason said though he didn't sound especially fine. He sounded tired, even more tired than he'd been over the last month. "I'm fine. I guessed it must have been something bad. Thalia doesn't usually fall apart like that."

"No," Nico agreed with only a little sulleness. "She gets mad not sad. Anyway you can appreciate why I'm currently still alarmingly sober."

Will gave him an understanding smile.

"When do the girls get here?" he asked Jason, and how did Will know more details about this party than Nico? Were his boyfriend and best friend in cahoots now? Nico wasn't sure he liked that. Next they'd be ganging up on him about his relationship with vegetables or something.

"Any minute," Jason said, glancing at his watch again.

"Percy seems to be having fun at least," Will commented. "Why are all the shots blue?"

"Don't ask," Nico said.

Wil raised an eyebrow.

"Okay well, I don't mean to be insensitive but Luke's message didn't make it seem like danger was imminent. And Percy has been gesturing to us to go over for the last like minute so maybe we should act like we want to be here not aiming that at anyone specific but certain people here have expressions more suitable for a funeral. Not everyone. Certain people. It looks great on you, Love but maybe not the most appropriate."

Nico hit him in the arm, but he had a point. This was Percy's night.

Nico let him and Jason pull him down to where Percy and the others were still playing Percy or Annabeth.

"Last question," Connor called. "And the newcomers and party poopers - looking at you Nico - can join in on this one. Jason I know you don't drink so we got you some blue Gatorade."

"Thanks," Jason said. "I think.”

"Right for the win, who does Annabeth think is the most irresponsible?"

No one even bothered writing.

"Percy!" everyone chorused.

"Hey," Percy protested, but then he shrugged.

"Yeah," he said. "Okay."

The games over, Leo cranked up the sound on the speakers.

"Let's hit some pinatas!" he yelled.

If his self from a year ago had been told that one day he'd be having fun at Percy's stag do for a marriage that wasn't to him, with a boyfriend in tow there was no way he'd ever have believed it. Things had changed a lot, but maybe they were for the better. Mostly for the better anyway.

Will had glitter on his cheeks and in his hair from the pinatas. He presented Nico with a small packet of haribo. It was largely made up of rings.

"Are you proposing?" Nico asked as he took them. He was sitting up on the bar refusing to dance, and Will was in front of him dancing distractedly as he tried to convince Nico dancing would be fun. Leo had put the playlist together and some of the songs made Nico frown slightly but Will had professed that Leo had good taste which was practically grounds for divorce.

"Proposing?" Will asked, sounding innocently surprised. "So early into the relationship? We have to write letters to each other for at least another two weeks and then you'd have to ask my papa's permission."

"Oh shut up you southern belle," Nico said. "And you don't even know who your papa is."

Will put a hand to his heart, mortally offended.

"How could you say such a thing?" he asked, teasing and over-dramatic. "At least my father is not a criminal overlord."

"That is a very good point my dear," Nico said with a straight face. "But then at least I didn't actively work for him."

Will laughed.

"Come on," he said. "Come dance."

Nico sighed but he actually recognised the song, and Will was so pretty under the flashing lights, glitter sticking to his cheeks like extra stars in the constellations already clustering his face. He slipped down off the bar, bringing a shot with him, letting Will pull him onto the dance floor.

"So what's this one?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"The song?"

"I thought you knew it," Will said. "You started dancing the second it came on."

"That's a lie your honour," Nico said automatically. "Besides you can know a song without knowing the name."

Will shrugged an acquiesce at that. Before he could answer, however, the door burst open and Piper appeared.

"We're here!" she called. She had on a pretty top and a nice pair of shorts over which she wore huge underwear emblazoned with a generic superhero symbol. She had a cowgirl hat all neon pink and bright splotches of cow print lopsided on her head.

"Looks like the girls have been having fun," Will commented wryly. Nico smirked. He'd been around a drunk Piper only once but it had been an experience. He thought the drunk men she'd been hustling drinks out of at the bar were going to kill her when they finally caught on to the fact she was playing them.

"Don't make or take any bets around her," he warned.

Annabeth appeared in the doorway next, a princess crown and veil placed on her head equally lopsided.

"Percy!" she yelled. "Look who's here."

Thalia was close behind, smudgy make up still smudged, hair still ruffled but looking festive in a bright blue feather boa Annabeth had wrapped around her shoulders. Nico might not have gotten on particularly well with her but the glee with which Annabeth introduced her friend made Nico kind of glad she'd shown up, though the circumstances could have been better. Percy scrambled to his feet, rushed over to Thalia.

"Sparks!"

"Water Works," Thalia said. "Heard you were getting married. Notice I didn't get an invitation to the wedding."

Annabeth laughed.

"We had no idea where you were!" she said accusingly. "You're a good one for disappearing. But now you're back you can have the place of honour."

"Hey - " Piper broke in with a cheeky grin. "I thought that was going to me."

"You can have a joint place of honour with Piper. And we can have another hen night. Maybe in Europe. Should we go to Europe? Maybe Paris, I haven't been to Paris. Hey Percy let's go to Paris."

"Sure," Percy said cheerfully, without a real clue about what was going on. "I'll add it to the list."

The rest of Annabeth's friends had intermingled with Percy's. Shots were poured out and taken around for the girls.

"We were dancing," Will said, gently pulling Nico back by the arm.

"That was when I knew the song," Nico said.

Will fixed him with an unimpressed look.

"Everyone knows What is Love."

Nico couldn't really deny that.

"You know I hate dancing," he mumbled but he let Will pull him along anyway and somehow he stayed until the next song and the song after that. He didn't drink much after the first shots and joined Jason on the blue gatorade. Though Will thought Luke didn't think there was much danger, and didn't pose a threat, and though Thalia had shaken off whatever was upsetting her and was dancing happily with Annabeth and Piper, there was a small part Nico couldn't quite relax. Will, he noticed, followed his lead and didn't drink much at all. That was like a knife in Nico's chest: painful and making him go weak at the same time and it made him smile at Will and keep dancing. Will was a good distraction.

At some point Percy and Annabeth's outer circle of friends left, leaving him and Will, Jason and Piper, and Leo, and Thalia. They all sat out on the fire escape, wrapped in coats and various items of fancy dress that had been strewn around the bar. Nico sat back against Will's legs, listening to the music that still played, though more quietly, and watching as the sky turned pale blue and then tinged pink.

The others were talking - reminiscing, making plans - but he was content to listen, Will's fingers intertwined with his.

Tiredness was catching up with him. The others were starting to feel the effects too, but no one wanted to end the party. At some point Nico fell asleep woke again when Thalia and Piper, who had very quickly become best friends, starting singing Country Roads Take Me Home To The Plaaaace -and planning to quit their jobs that second and take a road trip. Leo was going on about all the best things about road trips when Nico's eyes shut again.

Will nudged him awake again when the sun was a yellowing disc just above the horizon.

"Time to go," he said softly.

The others were getting up, collecting their things. In the foyer Jason was organising taxis, trying to count them all and figure out who would be best to ride with who.

"Where are you staying Thalia?"

"With ussss!" Piper said enthusiastically, to both Thalia and Jason's surprise though both accepted it.

"Okay so that means the three of us in one taxi," Jason said.

"Nico you better go with Percy," he continued. That was usually Jason's job but Nico just shrugged.

"And then Will with you as well obviously but then that leaves Leo and Annabeth. Wait where are you staying Leo?"

"He's near me," Annabeth said. "That works."

Jason stared at the both of them, doubtingly. Leo had on a pair of sunglasses and though he was leaning against the wall he was tipping and tilting and he keeled over. Annabeth was swaying happily and in complete contrast to her sober self did not seem very with it at all.

"I'll go with them," Will volunteered, catching Jason's eye with a slight smile. "It's sort of on the way."

Will glanced at Nico and Nico shrugged and nodded.

"I'll see you at home."

Will left first with Leo and Annabeth who were looking most worst for wear. Him and Percy were supposed to be next but then Percy, who had been fiddling with his engagement band, lost the ring and was crawling around looking for it.

"You go," Nico said. "I'll get the ring and the groom into the next taxi."

Jason smirked.

"Practice for the wedding?" he asked.

"I freaking hope not," Nico answered.

Jason grinned and wished him a good night, taking his drunk girlfriend and tipsy sister with him. Nico watched Percy scrabbling around the floor for a moment and then with a sigh got down on his hands and knees and began searching.

"Found it!" Nico said extracting the ring from under the counter. "And that sounds like the taxi."

He handed pulled Percy to his feet and handed him the ring.

"Don't lose it again," he instructed sternly, but his attempts to be authorititive just had Percy giggling.

"You don't do that as much anymore," Percy commented as Nico dragged him towards the door.

"Do what?" Nico asked distractedly.

"Frown," Percy said.

Nico stopped dead, but Percy was too drunk to notice any significance in that.

"I don't know what you mean," he said quietly. He pulled himself together, pulled Percy onwards.

"I frown all the time," Nico continued. "Look I'm frowning now because you're not walking properly and you're going to pull us both over."

"Sorry," Percy said automatically.

"I'm glad you have Will though," Percy said, apparently reaching the soppy stages of his drunk pattern. Nico was surprised he hadn't gotten there sooner. Nico glanced at his friend, who was frowning in his attempts to put one foot in front of the other. There was no way Percy would remember this conversation in the morning.

"I'm glad too," Nico said softly. "And I'd quite like to get home so if you could hurry it up that would be great."

Percy gave him a sappy grin.

"I love you Neeks," he said. "You're like my favourite little brother."

"Great," Nico said.

Percy frowned.

"Ugh," Nico said. "I love you too. Now for goodness sake the driver is going to drive off without us at this rate."

Percy did make a concentrated effort to hurry up, for all the good it did their pace. It wasn't far to the door but Percy managed to turn it into a marathon. Luckily the car was still waiting, back door open. Nico poured Percy inside and got in after him, yanking the door shut. Nico gave Percy's address and driver moved off without a word.

Nico's eyes were getting heavy again and he kept thinking of collapsing in bed. He had to keep jerking his eyes open, glancing over at Percy to make sure he wasn't making trouble, before sinking back into a sleepy daze. Because he was so out of it, it took him far too long to figure out the car wasn't going the right way.

He frowned, just faintly puzzled at first. They weren't that far from where they should be. Maybe there had been a diversion. When the car took a right when it should have been a left, Nico felt the thrills of dread.

He didn't know what to do, and Percy was too drunk to be any help and drunk enough to be a huge liability. Did he say something to the driver? Maybe the driver had heard the address wrong or -

Or this was deliberate.

He swallowed and pulled out his phone. His battery was flashing low, down in very last dregs of red. He'd taken too many pictures of Percy and Leo for bribery purposes. That would teach him. He would probably only have time for one call, or one message. Who did he reach out for? The police? Jason? Will? They should really have a group chat for these kind of problems - help we've been kidnapped.

An incoming text from Jason made up his mind. Jason was clearly by his phone.

He tapped out a quick message - probably incoherent in his hurry to get it sent before the battery died. After it was sent he opened up his and Will's thread but the screen went black, the little charge symbol taunting him when he stabbed at the screen.

Nico glanced at the driver, a dark figure behind the glass, and then to Percy. He was staring out the window, apparently oblivious to everything, half mumbling half singing. It was that song, the one he'd first got up to dance to. Will had never gotten to tell him what it was. What if Nico got murdered now and Will never got to tell him and he'd die not knowing and Will wouldn't know what happened to him.

No need to panic though.

He nudged Percy gently.

"Have you got your phone?" he asked.

Percy rummaged in his pockets then shook his head.

"I think Jason might have had it. Or Annabeth. Or Leo took it at one point and was recording some monologue about -"

Nico tuned out. Great. Just great. They were trapped in a taxi with a possible mad-mass murderer and/or one of Luke's minions or someone from Jason's father which all really probably amounted to the same thing. And neither of them had a working phone.

Though he could still feel tiredness, it was held at bay by the tension coiled in him. When the car stopped he threw open the door, intending to pull Percy out with him, to make a run for it. Percy was entangled with his seat belt and didn't have enough urgency for it to work. As the driver opened his door, Nico raced around the car, opened up Percy's door.

"This isn't my house," Percy observed, reasonably calmly though there was an undercurrent of awareness rising to the surface. He was beginning to look alarmed.

"Hurry up," was all Nico said.

Percy turned back to his seat belt. Nico sensed someone behind him and he turned, too quickly. They'd come to a stop on a dirt driveway, muddy and slippery and his foot had caught on a rock. He went down, trying to catch at the door to save him but it swung in throwing him even more off balance. He was aware of a sharp pain as he hit his head on something and then there was black.

Next chapter

[buoyantsaturn]

To Go Home (1/?)

summary: “Let me guess what your lion needs: someone temperamental and difficult. Unstable. Relies solely on bad instincts. A real pain in the ass.” He glanced toward the Alteans with a raised eyebrow, waiting for one of them to correct him.

Piper cleared her throat, a sign of discomfort in the situation, and said, “Well, you’re not wrong.”

“Sure, so I guess the Blue Lion will just accept anybody as its pilot, right?” Nico growled, hands closing into fists at his sides. “It’s obviously not very picky about who it lets in the pilot’s seat.”

“Still chose me over you!” Percy reminded him, stepping forward to get in Nico’s face.

word count: 14,441

read it on ao3

“Altea may not survive this war,” the King told Will in private as the medic attempted to get the King into a healing pod. “And neither will my daughter if she continues to act the way she has been these past months.”

“Your Majesty, please,” Will begged, not for the first time, though definitely for the last - not that he was aware of that quite yet. “You need to heal as quickly as possible and return to the battle, the Alteans need you!”

“Listen to me, my boy,” the King said, resting against the side of the pod but keeping a strong hand on Will’s shoulder. “I will do all that I can to win this war, but you must do your own part, do you understand? Take my daughter, keep her in the castleship. If you must, you take her to the far side of the universe, keep her safe in any way you can. Can you do that for me, Willow?”

Will hesitated for only a second. “Yes, Your Majesty. Of course.”

“Good,” the King said finally, letting his grip relax. “Altea’s forces have weakened, and the paladins of Voltron have already hidden their Lions on planets the Galra may never find. The fate of Altea’s legacy rests on your shoulders, Willow. Do whatever you believe is necessary to save the universe from the Galran Empire. I hope that you do not let me down.” The King released Will’s shoulder, falling back into the pod completely, and Will sealed it shut.

Will ran from the chamber, out into the burning fields of Altea. Almost immediately, he spotted the Princess, hacking away at Galra soldiers with a knife that didn’t seem to be causing much damage. Will, already hurrying forward, picked up speed when he saw the Princess take a significant hit. He took the knife from her hand, easily taking down the three soldiers now surrounding them.

He turned back to the Princess, pulling her to her feet and returning her knife. “Are you alright to walk? We need to get out of here.”

“I’m fine,” she told him, staggering away a few steps. “I’m not going anywhere, we have to fight.”

“You’re going to die if you keep fighting, Piper!” Will shouted in her face. “If you don’t come with me now I will have no choice but to force you.”

“I’m the Princess, Will, you can’t tell me what to do!” She took another step toward her next fight, but Will grabbed her around the waist, lifting her off the ground and starting toward the castleship at the edge of the field. “Put me down, you can’t do this!”

“I don’t have a choice, Piper,” Will yelled as he lifted Piper over his shoulder. “We have to leave Altea, there’s no other choice.”

Piper began struggling harder against Will’s grip, kicking her legs furiously and punching at his lower back. “No! No, I won’t leave, you can’t make me! I have to keep fighting, for my people, for my father! Take me to see my father!”

“I can’t do that, he’s in a pod,” Will told her. “We don’t have the time to waste. We’re taking the castleship and we’re going to find a safe planet to dock at, and-- We may never see Altea again. But this is our only option, so stop struggling.”

By now, Piper was screaming and crying, fighting against Will harder than ever, but he could feel her strength diminishing as they entered the castleship. He went straight for the healing pods, throwing the still screaming Piper inside one and apologizing as he sealed the pod. He ran to the control room, setting the ship’s course for a distant planet across the universe, and finally let himself relax when he felt the ship lift off the ground.

However, relaxing allowed Will to finally notice a sharp pain in his abdomen, and when he looked down, he saw blood soaking through the front of his shirt. He rushed back to the healing pods, vision blurring as he set up another pod, unable to see that he had set the pods at their slowest setting before he climbed in, and the pod sealed around him.

Leo Valdez hadn’t moved from his computer in almost forty-eight full hours, too worried over the threat of being kicked out of the Garrison at the end of the school year to do much other than panic. While his mother had been employed by the Garrison, Leo’s housing and tuition had been covered fully by the school, but only a week after his mother’s disappearance, Leo received a letter that his enrollment would be terminated without proper funding. He could only hope that a change in his grades and behavior would convince the Garrison to offer him a new scholarship. Otherwise, he might end up living on the streets.

His friends could hardly handle it anymore, seeing him in this constant anxious state - it was making them just as anxious about their own status at the Garrison, even though Frank’s tuition had been covered by his mother’s life insurance and Percy had started working as a teacher’s assistant at the beginning of the last school year.

Frank and Percy had insisted that Leo deserved a break, so one night Percy decided to borrow his boss’s keys, swinging them around his finger as he entered Frank and Leo’s shared dorm room. “Who wants to party it up on the roof? I hear there’s a meteor shower tonight!”

“Studying,” Leo said simply, hunching over closer to his laptop.

“You’re allowed to take a break, Leo,” Frank reminded him, but regretted it as soon as Leo’s gaze snapped up to him.

“What part of if I don’t get a scholarship, they’ll kick me out, do you not understand?” he shouted across the room. “I’m sorry I don’t have a guaranteed spot in this place like you guys do, I’m sorry I have to work to stay here, but I need to do this. I’m not going to be second person in our class to get kicked out, so just let me study, okay?” Leo paused, glancing between Percy and Frank, angry expression melting away when he saw the shock on his friends’ faces. “Shit, guys, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. I’m just stressed, you know? Please, just-- You gotta let me work.”

“We will let you work, dude,” Percy told him. “Come up to the roof with us, you can even bring your laptop. Some fresh air will do you good, I promise.”

“You won’t bother me while we’re up there?” Leo asked skeptically.

“Not as long as you stay up there with us,” Frank assured him. “We’ll be up there for an hour, tops. I’m sure your computer has a good enough charge to handle that.”

“So are we good?” Percy asked. “Let’s go, before we get caught!”

“If you get me in trouble when I’m in the middle of a huge good behavior streak,” Leo started, “I’ll kill you.”

“Relax, we’ll be fine!”

They stopped by Percy’s room so that he could pick up his telescope before they went up to the roof. Leo, of course, had his computer with him and refused to so much as glance up at the sky when he still had so much work to finish.

Percy set up his telescope closer to the edge of the roof, grumbling to himself every so often as he twisted the knobs along the side of the scope to adjust the focus. “You know something that I’m still a little pissed about?” Percy asked, loud enough that his friends could hear him.

“Jason went to Kerberos and you didn’t,” Leo and Frank said simultaneously, Frank with a roll of his eyes as he laid back to stare up at the sky.

“Alright, I get it, I complain about it a lot,” Percy muttered. “It’s still not fair, though! They offered me that position first, and gave it away to Jason all because I said I needed a day to think about it! Like, sorry I wanted to ask Annabeth for her thoughts before I launch into space.”

“It’s been a year, Percy,” Frank complained. “Let it go and be happy you’re still alive.” He winced when he heard Leo suddenly cease typing. “Sorry, Leo, you know I didn’t mean--”

“Save it, it’s fine,” Leo said quickly. “I’m over it, okay?”

“Dude, you can’t just be over it,” Percy told him, attention still focused mostly on his telescope.

“Yeah, if Percy can’t get over the Kerberos mission, then I’d be amazed if anyone could get over anything,” Frank joked.

“Trust me, guys, I’m pretty over it,” Leo assured them.

“It’s okay if you’re not,” Frank continued. “When my mom died--”

“Woah, guys!” Percy cried, keeping himself close to the eyepiece. “Something just entered the atmosphere and I don’t think that’s a space rock.” He hurried to shift the telescope to follow the movements of the foreign object as it fell closer to the Earth’s surface. “That’s definitely not a space rock, it’s… It looks like some sort of ship!”

“Seriously?” Leo exclaimed, setting his laptop aside and jumping to his feet. “Dude, move over, let me see!” He tried to shove Percy out of the way, but the older boy wouldn’t budge. “Dude, c’mon! What if that’s my mom in there?”

Percy pulled back from the scope for just long enough to meet Leo’s eyes before turning back to the ship - something small enough to be an escape pod, most likely. “It doesn’t look like a Garrison-issued ship, Leo, I’m sorry.”

Frank leaned over the edge of the building, eyes traveling away from the plummeting spacecraft and heading toward a fast-moving speck on the ground - a motorbike of some kind speeding in the direction of the spacecraft. “Hey, do you guys see that?” he asked, pointing down, and Percy finally moved away from the telescope; Leo was quick to take his place.

“We gotta go check that thing out,” Leo cried, scrambling away to collect his laptop and the rest of the work he’d brought to the roof with him.

“Wait, Leo, hang on,” Frank started, still leaning over the edge of the roof in hopes to identify the biker below them.

Percy jumped back to the telescope, frantically adjusting the focus and finding the motorbike before shouting, “Holy shit!”

Nico had disappeared from the Garrison in the middle of the night, the same day that each member of the Kerberos mission had been declared dead. He had received a phone call from his family’s lawyer that day as well, informing him that his older sister had died in an accident and that his father was too busy to call Nico himself. Nico could barely hold himself back from a panic attack - not only had he just lost the closest thing to family he had at the Garrison with the announcement of Jason’s death, but now Bianca?

Nico would admit, he hadn’t thought through any of the things he did next. He’d packed a bag and snuck out of his dorm after lights-out. He’d ran to the garage underneath the Garrison dorms, hotwiring one of the hoverbikes that Garrison engineers had designed, and got the hell out of there.

At first, the rushing wind and feeling of freedom after suffocating in that school for so long was the most calming, liberating thing Nico had experienced in years. However, just as the Garrison disappeared from the horizon, Nico had felt his chest tightening, throat closing, and suddenly he couldn’t get enough air - hardly any at all. He got dizzy, lost his balance, and tumbled off the side of the hoverbike, skidding across the sand until he rolled to a stop near the edge of a cliff.

He had managed to calm himself down before he hyperventilated. He picked himself up off the ground, scrambling back from the cliff’s edge, and had spotted a tiny wooden shack less than fifty feet from where he stood. He gathered up the hoverbike and pushed it toward the shack - a better place to hide for the night than the open desert, and, unknown to him at the time, the place he would hide for the next year.

Nico had never intended to stay for very long - no longer than that first night, and he would be gone by sunrise to some other place where no one could ever find him - but he couldn’t make himself leave. He’d woken up on an old, dusty mattress in that abandoned shack with a ringing in his ears that he couldn’t get rid of and a strange feeling that he couldn’t shake.

He got comfortable in that shack, finding the nearest source of water in a day and teaching himself how to hunt and cook desert animals within the first week. He used the last of his phone’s battery to text Hazel, telling her not to worry about him because he was fine, he just couldn’t stay at the Garrison any longer. Don’t let anyone know that you heard from me, okay? I’m sorry.

He ignored every response he received, refused to even consider opening the messages he’d gotten from Frank and Leo and Percy, and soon enough his phone’s battery had died; he didn’t have to think about those messages anymore. He had better things to do, a desert to explore, and an unsettling feeling that he needed to investigate.

“Holy shit, that’s Nico!” Percy cried.

“Are you sure?” Frank asked. “How can you be sure?”

“Because that’s him!” Percy exclaimed. “I’d recognize that little emo guy anywhere, okay? Just trust me, we gotta go after him!”

“Then what are you waiting for?” Leo ran for the fire escape across the roof, hopping down a few steps before calling out, “Let’s go!”

Frank and Percy ran after him, abandoning Percy’s telescope near the edge of the roof. “What’s with the sudden change of attitude?” Frank called after him.

“Yeah, what happened to--” Percy pitched his voice higher, speaking in a nasally voice when he said, “Don’t get me in trouble or I’ll kill you, huh?”

“Who needs good behaviour when that could be my mom in that pod,” Leo told them jumping onto the ground from the last step of the fire escape. “Hurry up, guys!”

“Not our fault you got a head start,” Frank complained, struggling to catch his breath as he hit the ground, but Leo was still running at top speed toward the crash site of the pod. Already, he could see Garrison rovers speeding out there, setting up a perimeter around the pod.

“Hey, Leo,” Percy shouted, catching up to Frank easily, “not to burst your bubble, but how do you plan to get past all of them without getting caught?”

Leo slid to a stop at the top of a hill, staring down at the line of Garrison rovers surrounding the crashed pod, visibly deflating. “I didn’t think of that,” he said quietly when Percy and Frank ran to his side.

“We’ll need some kind of distraction,” Percy suggestion, setting a hand on Leo’s shoulder. “See anything around here we can use?”

“I could remotely disable any security tech they might be using,” Leo thought aloud, already reaching for his laptop in his backpack.

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” Frank said, pointing out past the pod, just as a series of minor explosions went off, and Garrison rovers started to reroute in that direction. “I’d have to guess that now is our best chance to get down there.”

“Hell yeah, let’s go!” Leo exclaimed, and slid down the slope of the hill.

The ringing in Nico’s ears had stopped suddenly two days ago. He’d gotten so used to it that the silence around him was deafening, so he’d started making more noise than usual just to feel like he wouldn’t go insane from the quiet.

Over the last year, he’d filled an entire wall of his shack with research and maps, strings that connected information and possible conclusions scribbled into margins that were usually crossed out. He was starting to feel like he’d reached a dead end one night when the ringing in his ears returned with a vengeance, so piercing that Nico was knocked off his feet. He pressed his palms to his ears, hoping to stifle the sound but to no avail.

Then, just as suddenly as it had started, the ringing stopped again. Nico pulled his hands from his head hesitantly, expecting lines of blood to have dripped onto his palms, but his skin was clean. He paused, waiting for the ringing to return, but stood when it didn’t. He went toward the window, trying to make out any sound to prove that his hearing hadn’t gone away completely, and he heard a soft whistle from above him.

Nico looked up. It appeared as though a ball of fire was soaring across the sky, but when Nico grabbed a pair of binoculars, he quickly realized that it was a crashing ship - not Garrison issued, and not anything he’d seen from other space programs on Earth. He knew aliens were real!

He tossed the binoculars aside and ran out the door, hopping on his hoverbike and speeding off in the direction of the falling ship.

The crash was deafening, the sound like a building collapsing in an earthquake, and Nico was nearly knocked off his bike at the sudden gust of hot air it caused.

Jason Grace had no recollection of...anything, really. He didn’t recognize the building he was in or the gurney he was currently strapped to. None of the people running around him seemed familiar, though they all seemed to know him.

A light was shined into his eyes. A needle pressed under his skin. He screamed for release but the sounds around him became muffled and garbled as his vision started to blur and blacken around the edges. His screams ceased abruptly as his body was forced to relax.

Nico was amazed at how quickly the Garrison could pitch a tent, especially one with such high security and stocked so full with medical equipment. The explosions he’d set off had only distracted a little more than half of the Garrison officers working around the tent, though most of the rest were pretty easy to sneak past. A few had needed to be knocked out a dragged to the side so that Nico could continue on without getting caught.

Once he found the central room in the elaborate tent-maze, he was able to incapacitate the few workers inside with ease as none of them made much of an effort to fight back. It was when he turned toward Jason, unconscious and strapped to a table in the middle of the room, that he ran across a significant, very unexpected problem. He froze at the sight of Percy Jackson.

Percy hadn’t seemed to notice him, focusing more on trying to wake Jason from his drug-induced sleep, so Nico gave himself half a second to relax.

He moved forward, pushing Percy out of the way and immediately starting to untie the straps at Jason’s wrists. He sat Jason up when he noticed the older man starting to wake, and saw that Percy had undone the straps around Jason’s ankles.

Nico grabbed Jason by the shoulders, shaking him to get his attention. “Jason, look at me. Can you hear me? Jason!”

Percy came up behind him, hitting Jason lightly on the cheek a few times. “Jason, man, are you okay?”

“I can handle this,” Nico snapped, and turned his attention back toward Jason. “Jason, you gotta trust me, we have to get out of here, okay? Can you stand?”

Jason groaned, obviously struggling to stay upright. “Who are you?” he asked groggily. “Where am I?”

Percy jumped back into Jason’s line of sight. “Dude! You remember me, right? I’m Percy, you’re at the Garrison, you--”

“Would you get out of here?” Nico shouted, shoving Percy away. “Jason, come on, you have to trust me, we have to go. I can explain everything I can later but we need to leave now.”

“Why should he leave?” Percy asked, shoving Nico back. “The Garrison can help, Nico, or did you forget that when you ran away?”

“I don’t have time for this,” Nico hissed, and pulled at Jason’s arm until he was swaying on his feet. “Come on, Jason, it’s not too far. We just have to be quick.”

They managed two steps before Jason slumped over, nearly knocking Nico off his feet, until Percy swept in and slung one of Jason’s arms over his shoulder. The three of them shuffled to the door just as it was opened from the other side, Frank poking his head into the room.

“Uh, the coast is no longer clear,” he told them. “We need to get out of here right now.”

For the first time that Nico could recall, he noticed Leo last. He may not have even noticed him if not for the fact that he stopped directly in front of Jason and started spitting out questions about where he’d been and how he’d survived and where Leo’s mom was. Nico shoved him out of the way before continuing back the way he’d come.

“We don’t have time for any of this,” he told them. “We’re leaving, follow me.”

Jason had slept on the mattress in Nico’s shack until morning, while Nico spent the entire night dodging questions from Percy, Frank, and Leo. Percy had just uncovered the bulletin boards on Nico’s wall and started pestering him about them just as Jason had started to show signs of waking.

Nico was happy to avoid every question the other three sent his way in favor of explaining things to Jason - things like how long he’d been gone, a brief explanation of the mission he’d been on and of the Garrison in general. He mentioned who he was, how they’d met, how they’d been very close friends while they were both at the Garrison.

Percy had tried cutting in to remind Jason of some rivalry that Percy claimed they had, though even Leo had rolled his eyes when the topic was brought up. Frank had tried to help Nico in explaining a few of the details that Nico hadn’t been getting quite right, but Nico simply talked over him. Leo had tried asking Jason about his mom, though that only seemed to confuse Jason more, and after Nico had snapped at Leo a few times, he finally relented and sat quietly.

“You really remember none of this?” Nico asked quietly, looking as though he might be starting to give up.

Jason shook his head, bringing his hands up to scrub at his face. “I’m sorry, I don’t. Maybe we should just take a break for a few minutes. I think I could use some fresh air.”

He rose from his seat on the edge of the mattress and made his way out the door. Nico didn’t move, feeling something like panic starting to well up inside him. He thought he’d finally gotten Jason back, the man who had been like a brother to him during his time at the Garrison, but he’d been wrong. Jason was back in person, sure, but the man Nico had known had been left somewhere deep in space.

Nico had almost let himself forget that there were other people in his home, but then Frank said, “Nico, do you think you could explain this to me?” He was pointing at something on one of the bulletin boards.

Nico curled in on himself, uncomfortable with having so many people in his personal space. He couldn’t help but think of how crazy he must look to these people he used to know, living in a toolshed in the middle of the desert, conspiracy theories pinned to every available space on the walls. He knew those boards like the back of his hand by now, and didn’t even have to move from where he sat across the room to know what Frank was pointing at.

“When I left the Garrison,” he started off slowly, “I took some of their equipment with me. I was hoping it might help me find Jason, but I think I might’ve found something else instead.”

“Something like what?” Percy asked, but Nico ignored him. Instead, he watched as Frank examined some of his work, afraid of what might come out of his mouth next.

“Where did you get these numbers?” Frank asked, pointing at one of the oldest sheets of paper on the board.

“I don’t remember,” Nico told him honestly. “That was one of the first things I found when I got out here.”

“They look a little bit like coordinates, almost,” Frank said, hesitating for a moment and seeming like he might be doing calculations of some kind in his head. “It’s not too far from here, actually. We could go check it out, if you want. We can see what it is you might’ve found.”

“It’s probably nothing,” Nico said. “Those numbers are from a year ago, they probably don’t mean anything anymore. It’s stupid, so just leave it alone.”

“Looks like a whole bunch of stupid nothing to me,” Percy commented, and Nico made sure to point his glare at the wall where no one could see.

Frank, however, knew Nico too well, even after a year apart.

“Percy, Leo, why don’t you guys step outside for a minute?” Frank suggested. “Make sure Jason’s okay, take him some water or something. Just don’t bother him too much.”

“Yes, mom,” Percy said with a roll of his eyes, wincing after a second and apologizing when he remembered that moms were a very sensitive subject for every other person in that room. He walked out of the shack without another word while Leo grabbed a cup to fill with the water from the outside well before he followed Percy out the door.

Frank waited until the door was shut behind them before dropping onto the mattress next to Nico. “We didn’t mean to invade your space,” Frank said, “so I’m sorry for that, but you know that the Garrison probably wouldn’t let us back in after, you know, last night.”

“Yeah, and I of all people should know that,” Nico muttered bitterly, turning away and crossing his arms.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Frank told him. “I don’t blame you for running away. After Bianca - uh, Hazel told me - and then Jason disappearing, I get why you didn’t want to stay. I don’t think I would have wanted to, either. It’s just-- You could’ve told us. We could’ve tried to help you, somehow. You kind of freaked us all out when you just disappeared in the middle of the night, and we were all so worried. Hazel, especially. I don’t mean to guilt trip you here, but do you know how hard that was on her? To lose a sister and a brother in twenty-four hours?”

“I told her I was okay,” Nico said quietly. “I made sure she didn’t tell anyone that she’d heard from me because I didn’t want anyone to come looking. I’m sorry, I guess I just didn’t know who I could trust at the time.”

“I get it,” Frank said, dropping a comforting hand on Nico’s shoulder. “You don’t have to apologize, but I want you to know that you can trust me, okay? Maybe not Leo and Percy, none of us really expect you to get along with Percy, but you can trustme.”

“Alright,” Nico responded with a sigh. “Thanks, Frank. I-- Yeah, I know I can trust you.”

“Great, I’m glad you think so,” Frank said with a smile, shaking Nico’s shoulder a little bit before he stood up and stepped toward Nico’s bulletin boards. “Now, about those numbers on your board. Actually, you know what? Can you explain as much of this to me as you can? I think I might be able to help you figure this out.”

It only took about half an hour before Frank decided that their best course of action would be to see where Nico’s coordinates would lead them. Luckily, they would only have to go a few miles away from Nico’s shack. Unluckily, Frank had told the others that they were about to head out for a few hours - Nico had been planning on running off without saying anything - and the others decided to tag along with them.

The five of them traveled across the desert until the flat, sandy ground turned to rocks and hills, and they found themselves at the mouth of a cave. They wandered around inside, Nico and Jason lingering closer to the entrance and the sunlight while the others turned on the flashlights on their phones to investigate.

“I told you there wouldn’t be anything here, okay?” Nico said, tugging on the straps of his backpack - the always-packed bag of clothes and other essentials he carried with him whenever he left the shack. “This is stupid, we should just leave.”

“After walking all that way?” Leo questioned. “Hell, no! We just got here!”

“There has to be something for us to find here, Nico,” Frank reminded him. “We’ll look around for a little while longer, but if we don’t find anything, then we can leave.”

“Hey, do you think this is anything?” Percy asked, staring at the cave wall, his nose practically pressed to the stone. “There’s engravings in the wall, or something. Must be really old, they’re super hard to see.” He reached up, attempting to brush the layers of dust from over the carvings in the stone.

Suddenly, the walls began to glow a faint blue light. Nico’s ears began to ring as he watched the lights take the shapes of the carvings - something like lions mid-leap and tiny figures bowing before them.

Leo and Frank rushed over to Percy to get a closer look at the carvings, though Nico and Jason hung back. “What does it say?” Leo asked.

“How should I know?” Percy asked. “I can’t read wall carvings.”

Jason’s hand landed on Nico’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s go check it out.”

The two stepped closer until all five of them were crowded around the glowing carvings, practically shoving at each other to try to get a better look, until they heard a cracking sound, like rocks shifting.

“Uh, what was that?” Frank asked, glancing toward the cave’s entrance to make sure they weren’t about to be trapped inside.

“Sounds like something’s shifting,” Jason said, taking a step backward. “We should--”

Nico spun around just in time to watch Jason fall through the floor of the cave. “Jason!” he called out, stepping toward the edge of the hole his friend had fallen through, only to fall through himself when the rocks crumbled out from under his feet.

Nico barely noticed the other three landing near him, too distracted by the the nearly blinding blue light radiating from a giant orb across the large cavern and the increased ringing in his ears. “What the hell is that?” Nico breathed. “Is that what brought me here?” He scrambled to his feet, ignoring the questioning voices around him as he approached the orb, the light becoming more tolerable the closer he got. He stopped only feet away from the orb, now almost completely transparent, revealing a blue lion towering over him, frozen like a statue, but something inside of Nico had him thinking that this lion was much more than a statue - something more alive.

He raised his hand, resting his palm flat against the glowing barrier, though nothing seemed to change. “Why would you bring me here?” he asked quietly. “What do you want from me?”

Nico let his hand slip away just as Percy stepped up beside him. “Dude, this thing looks sick!” He reached up and pressed a hand against the barrier, and they all watched it dissolve at his touch, the light fading from the cavern, leaving only a faint yellow glow from the lion’s eyes.

“Guess it likes me better,” Percy said to Nico with a smirk.

“Whatever,” Nico huffed, crossing his arms.

Leo shoved past Nico on his way toward the lion, calling out for Percy to follow him. As Percy moved closer, the lion crouched down with its mouth open, allowing them to climb inside.

“Holy shit,” Frank muttered, pausing beside Nico.

Jason came up to Nico’s other side, dropping his hand onto Nico’s shoulder again. “Come on, we should supervise before they break something.”

They made their way inside, finding Percy and Leo inside some kind of control room, Leo examining the dashboard and its hundreds of controls, and Percy sitting in the pilot’s seat. When he saw Jason step into the room, Percy called out, “Suck it, Jason! I got a way cooler ship that you did!”

Jason glanced down at Nico. “I don’t understand what he’s talking about.”

“Ignore him,” Nico told him. “Nothing that comes out of his mouth is ever important.”

“You’re both just jealous of my super cool new ship,” Percy shot back, leaning forward and starting to press buttons and flip switches on the dashboard.

“Quit touching things before you break something,” Nico snapped at him. “We shouldn’t even be in here.”

Percy made a pfft noise. “C’mon, man, I’m not hurting anything! This thing probably doesn’t even work anymore.” He continued flipping a few switches until the ship roared to life - in more ways than one. The ship’s engine powered up, causing the ship to shift, and they realized that the lion must’ve returned to its standing position. As soon as every light on the dashboard was glowing, the lion roared, the sound reverberating throughout the cockpit.

“Percy, what the hell did you do?” Nico shouted, peering over the other’s shoulder to stare out of the windshield. The lion’s head appeared to be glancing back and forth, examining the cave, before tilting up to stare at the ceiling.

“Whatever you’re doing,” Frank started, holding tightly to the arm of Percy’s chair, “make it stop!”

“I’m not doing anything, dude!” Percy exclaimed excitedly. “This thing’s moving all on its own!”

“Well, get it to stop!” Jason told him, reaching forward and attempting to find the off-switch.

Percy slapped his hand away. “Cut it out, man, you got your ship, this one’s mine!”

“You sure you know what you’re doing, Perce?” Leo asked.

“Yeah, obviously, just give me a minute!” Percy leaned forward, hitting the controls over and over again, but the ship never stopped. “Nothing’s working, I don’t get it!”

“Try harder!” Nico shouted in his ear.

Percy twisted around in his seat, glaring back at Nico. “What do you think I’m--” He fell back into his seat as the lion shifted once more. Everyone braced at the sudden movement, watching through the windshield as the ship launched upwards, colliding with the rock ceiling and busting through.

“This thing’s, like, indestructible!” Leo said, peering over the dashboard and spotting blue sky instead of a rocky cave. “Uh, Percy, you wanna try to land this thing? We’re getting a little high.”

“I’m trying, nothing’s working,” Percy told him. He gave up hitting individual buttons and instead hit the side of his fist against the controls. “Oh, shit!” he yelled as the ship picked up speed, shooting into the sky, faster than any of them had ever flown in a real ship or a simulator.

“Turn this thing around!” Jason demanded, bracing himself on the back of Percy’s chair with one hand, his other grabbing hold of Nico’s backpack, pulling the younger boy closer to keep him upright.

Between the ringing in his ears, Nico could vaguely hear somebody shout, “We’re in space! No ship has ever been able to reach space this fast!” but Nico couldn’t even manage to open his eyes.

He would’ve fallen over when they landed if not for Jason keeping him standing. He opened his eyes, finding himself nearly blinded by the brightness of the blue sky beyond the ship’s windshield. The ringing in his ears had mostly subsided, fading away to a more manageable level, though it still distracted him enough that he didn’t notice Leo shouting something and running for the exit, Frank hurrying after him.

Jason shook Nico’s shoulder to gain his attention. “Nico, are you alright?”

“Huh?” Nico mumbled, glancing up at the blond. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Percy rose from his seat, stretching his arms over his head as he turned to face them. “I knew you were gay, Neeks, but I didn’t think you were gay for Jason.”

Nico’s hands tightened into fists, his glare following Percy as he left the cockpit.

“Don’t let him get to you,” Jason told him calmly, patting him on the shoulder.

“Yeah, whatever,” Nico huffed, crossing his arms. “Where the hell is the exit to this thing?”

The lion landed at the base of a tall staircase, leading up to a shining white castle, practically glowing in the light. The five of them exited the lion, making their way up the stairs only to stop at the sight of the massive front door.

Percy stepped ahead of everyone, hand raised and palm out, and pressed his hand flat against the door. When nothing happened, Percy said, “I don’t get it, it worked with the lion.”

Nico was midway through rolling his eyes when the lion behind them let out a rumbling roar, and the door before them creaked open.

“Uh, this all seems like a really terrible idea,” Frank pointed out, but Leo and Percy were already running inside and the rest had no choice but to follow.

The lights turned on as they stepped inside, illuminating a room larger than the cavern in which they’d found the lion. From where they stood, three different, dark hallways were visible, though as they spread out throughout the room, a singular hallway lit up, as if pointing them in the right direction.

“Everyone, this way,” Jason announced before heading into the hall, expecting the rest to follow. The lights continued to lead them through the castle until they reached a circular room, perfectly empty except for two cylinders standing in the center of the room.

Leo pushed past Jason, running up to a thin podium that seemed to be some kind of control center. He hit a few buttons, ran his fingers across a touch screen, but he turned back to the group after only a few seconds. “I can’t read any of this, I don’t know what it is or how any of these controls work.”

Jason stepped up beside him, glancing only momentarily at the control center before walking toward the cylinders. He stopped in front of one and wiped away the layer of frost coating the surface, only to find the glass beneath disintegrating at his touch.

The surface of the pod dissipated, revealing a woman wearing what looked like battle armor with long, dark hair pulled back and out of her face. She looked perfectly human, aside from the pink marks highlighting her cheekbones.

The woman started to lean forward, swaying toward Jason until she fell out of the pod and into Jason’s arms, seeming to be fully unconscious.

“Nico,” Jason said carefully, nodding toward the second pod.

Nico’s head jerked in response. He dropped his backpack by the control center and rushed toward the second pod as Jason slowly lowered the woman to the ground. Nico swiped a hand across the surface of the pod, watching as the glass disappeared and a blond man became visible on the inside. He swayed forward and Nico braced himself to catch the man, though he was completely knocked off his feet when the blond landed on top of him.

Nico smacked his head against the ground, though the blond’s head, of course, was cushioned by Nico’s chest. He seemed to wake up immediately, probably startled by the impact considering the woman was still asleep in Jason’s arms, and pushed himself up until he was hovering over Nico.

The air had been knocked out of Nico’s lungs when the blond knocked him over, but even now, staring up into sparkling blue eyes, he found he still couldn’t catch a breath. He heard someone speak - Percy, it sounded like, and knowing him it was some kind of joke about Nico’s sexuality - though Nico couldn’t hear a thing. Even the ringing in his ears had vanished completely, leaving the silence deafening.

Nico had enough time to notice that the blond was cold to the touch - freezing, really, even his breath puffing against Nico’s cheeks was cold - before the blond was pulled off of him and slammed onto the ground nearby.

Nico sat up and scrambled back as the dark haired woman connected her fist with the blond’s jaw. “How could you, Will?” she screamed in his face. “How dare you force me into that pod! We are in the middle of a war, I could have you executed for this!”

“Woah, uh, hey there,” Leo interrupted, drawing the attention of both aliens. “Uh, sorry, but could you guys maybe explain what’s going on here?”

“What he means to say,” Jason clarifies, “is that we found a giant blue robot lion that flew us to this planet. We don’t know why or how we’re here, or where here is exactly.”

The woman froze, fist poised in the air for another blow to the blond man’s face, but she stopped herself. She stood, brushed off her clothes, and cleared her throat before speaking. “I am Princess Piper of the planet Altea. This is my castle. And this is Will, my--” She shot him a dirty look at he got to his feet beside her. “Acquaintance.”

“Altea?” Leo repeated, slipping his backpack off his shoulders and reaching inside for his computer. “No, no, I don’t think so. I don’t think that’s possible. I’ve never seen a planet by that name in the Garrison’s database, and there’s no way we’ve traveled outside of the Garrison’s viewing range in such a short amount of time.” He flipped open the lid of his laptop, already powered up and opened to Leo’s downloaded version of the Garrison’s database.

“Garrison, is that the name of your planet?” Piper asked, staring at Leo’s laptop like she’d never seen anything like it - which, to be fair, she probably hadn’t.

“No, it’s our school,” Frank answered. “We come from the planet Earth.”

“I’ve never heard of this Earth,” Piper told them. “All of you, come with me. I would like to see where in the universe your Earth is.”

She turned on her heel and walked out of the room, Will close behind, leaving the rest no choice but to follow.

They found themselves in what must be the equivalent to the ship’s bridge. From first glance, Nico didn’t see any way of controlling the ship, only a series of chairs spaced out throughout the room, all pointing out toward the blue sky. He figured, though, as he watched Will and Piper restore power to the ship, that this space may very well have be used as the control center.

The five humans gathered in a semi-circle around the central command area - a raised circle in the floor that happened to be the only illuminated part of the room. Will turned to them after a few moments of tapping on hologram-like touch screens, and held out a hand. “We will need to do a quick scan of the lifeforce that one of you possess so that we can locate the largest source of it in the universe.”

He made eye contact with Nico, seeming like he was holding his hand out specifically to him, but Percy slapped in hand down into Will’s before Nico could even blink. “Dude, awesome, scan me!”

Will sighed, but brought Percy a step closer, telling him to hold his hand against a certain part of one of the screens, then announcing when he could move away. It only takes a second before the screen starts to flash a few unrecognizable symbols, most likely claiming to have found a match.

Will tapped the screen a few more times and the windows pointing out to blue skies began to tint until no light could come through, and instead, a constellation map was projected into the room.

“Currently, we are here, on planet Arus,” Will told everyone, zooming in momentarily on a singular planet that had a similar outward appearance to Earth. Then, Will started to sweep his hands across the map, like he was pulling the stars themselves around the room. “Your Earth is all the way over here,” he continued, stretching out some of the words as he went.

Percy looked a little bit like he’d been punched in the stomach, but mostly like he’d just been told that his dog had died. Frank’s face held a similar expression, though not quite as severe. “You’re kidding,” he breathed.

Leo’s reaction was more calculating, like he was trying to figure out the exact distance between their two planets and how fast they must’ve traveled to have gotten between them. Jason, however, actually voiced those thoughts.

“What was that ship that we came here in? That lion?” he asked. “What is it made from that could possibly travel that far that fast without breaking apart at the force?”

“That was one of the five Lions of Voltron,” Piper began. “They are made from the strongest materials in the universe. Clearly, seeing as the Blue Lion has brought you here, the five of you have been chosen to pilot the lions and become the Paladins of Voltron.”

“But what does that mean?” Frank asked. “How do we choose our lions?”

“You do not choose your lion,” Piper explained, “your lion chooses you.”

“Okay, sure, a giant spaceship chooses you to be its pilot,” Leo said, clearly doubtful of the princess’s explanation. “But howdoes it choose us?”

“You must let it,” Piper snapped, annoyed at the constant interruptions. “The Black Lion needs a pilot who is a born leader, who is always in control. Someone whose men will follow his word without hesitation.” Her eyes scanned them, stopping on Jason and staying there. “You, what is your name?”

“Jason Grace, Your Highness,” he answered.

“Jason Grace,” Piper repeated, “you will pilot the Black Lion.”

“The Green Lion’s pilot is inquisitive,” Will jumped in. “An intellect, daring, the most technologically apt.”

“Oh, man, that’s gotta be me,” Leo exclaimed. “Right? I’m the Green Pilot?”

“Green Paladin,” Piper corrected. “And yes, you seem the most suitable to pilot the Green Lion. The Yellow Paladin is caring and kind, a pilot who puts the needs of others above his own.”

“Frank,” Percy said immediately, and before the Alteans could either confirm or deny, Nico snapped, “Oh, like you know everything.”

“More than you,” Percy shot back. “Let me guess what your lion needs: someone temperamental and difficult. Unstable. Relies solely on bad instincts. A real pain in the ass.” He glanced toward the Alteans with a raised eyebrow, waiting for one of them to correct him.

Piper cleared her throat, a sign of discomfort in the situation, and said, “Well, you’re not wrong.”

“Sure, so I guess the Blue Lion will just accept anybody as its pilot, right?” Nico growled, hands closing into fists at his sides. “It’s obviously not very picky about who it lets in the pilot’s seat.”

“Still chose me over you!” Percy reminded him, stepping forward to get in Nico’s face.

“Both of you, cut it out,” Jason shouted, pulling the two away from each other.

“As I was saying,” Piper continued once the Red and Blue Paladins had stopped arguing, “Once you bond with your lions, you will be able to unlock its abilities and form Voltron.”

“Where are the lions?” Frank asked. “If the Blue Lion was on Earth, then where are the rest?”

Piper frowned, glancing around at the constellations still projected around them. “It will take some time for me to locate the others. For now, Will can show you around the castle, give you some food and a place to sleep.”

“Of course,” Will said, and turned to the Paladins. “Follow me to the soldier’s quarters.” He led them down a different hallway, explaining how the castle had been built by his grandfather while Voltron was still in a developmental stage. They passed by the dining room, Will explaining that they would loop back around to eat before continuing on down a few more halls. “Here are your rooms,” he said, stopping at the end of a long hallway lined with closed doors. “There are many more, but these should be the easiest for you to find again. Feel free to claim any room in this hall as your own.”

Will stepped up to the nearest door, holding his hand out to a sensor on the wall nearby. As he did so, the door slid open, revealing a plain room with a single bed and a desk pushed up against the wall - not dissimilar to the single dorms at the Garrison. “These sensors will allow you to access your room, once you’ve chosen it. You will also be able to set a code to lock the door, should you wish, but know that the Princess and I have override codes for emergencies.”

The humans slowly made their ways forward, almost hesitant to claim their own rooms. Nico’s room was the furthest down the hall, one room between his and Frank’s with no one directly across the hall. He cautiously stepped to the center room, glancing around at the bare, steel-gray walls and the dark sheets covering the mattress.

“You can leave your bag here,” Will told him, suddenly appearing in the doorway, leaning slightly against the wall, almost as if he were trying too hard to seem relaxed. “We’ll be heading back to the kitchen now, but you’re free to come back here to your belongings after you eat. They’ll be safe here.”

Nico hesitated, reluctant to leave his bag behind. After everything that had happened in approximately the last twenty hours, there was no way that he could be sure that he would return to this room. Finally, after a noticeable amount of consideration, Nico carefully set his bag on top of the desk that sat against one wall.

When he turned back to Will, he seemed significantly more uncomfortable than he had been before. “I can, uh, help you set a code on your door, if you’d like?” he offered, straightening up and away from the wall.

Nico shook his head. “No, you’re right. It’ll be safe here. Let’s go.”

Will gestured out into the hall like he was saying, after you, and followed Nico out of the room, leaving the door to slide shut behind them. The rest of the paladins were already back at the front of the hallway waiting for them, and Will led the way back toward the dining room.

Just as Will directed the paladins to take a seat at the table, Piper’s voice crackled to life overhead: “Paladins, return to the bridge, I’ve located the Lions.”

“Okay, never mind,” Will said, and gestured for the others to follow him back out of the dining room. They were back in the control room in less than a minute due to Will’s fast pace, and inside, the map of constellations was still projected throughout the room.

“I’ve devised a plan,” Piper told him, eyes trained on the stars, not even bothering to look back at the paladins. “The Yellow Lion is located here, on Planet Praetro. The Yellow and Blue Paladins will take the Blue Lion to retrieve it.”

“Frank,” Percy said, pointing to the Yellow Paladin, and then pointed to himself and said, “Percy.”

“Right, of course,” Piper said, still not looking in their direction. “The planet doesn’t seem to be inhabited, but keep your guard up anyway. I’ve sent the coordinates to the Blue Lion, so it should be ready for departure now.

“The Green Lion is on Planet Sparz,” Piper said, moving on. “Jason, you and the Green Paladin will take one of the transport pods to Sparz to collect the Green Lion.”

“Sure, you know his name but not any of ours,” Leo said with a roll of his eyes. “My name’s Leo, by the way. Should be pretty easy to remember, considering it means ‘lion’.”

“What about the Black and Red Lions?” Jason prompted.

“The Black Lion has been held inside the castle for safekeeping,” Will told him. “The only way to access it will be to bring the other four Lions to the castle.”

“The Red Lion is not currently accessible,” Piper told them. “My understanding is that it is being held on an enemy battleship. We won’t be able to collect it until we have the other three Lions because it’s too dangerous to go after it yourself. Red Paladin, you will wait here on the ship until the others return.”

“It’s Nico,” he told her, and didn’t notice as Will, off to the side, breathed the name to himself to get a feeling for it.

“I will need to open a wormhole for the Blue Lion to travel through,” Piper continued. “Will, show the paladins to the armory and prepare them to depart.”

They each dressed in armor corresponding to the color of their Lions, and once they were dressed, Will went around to each of them and handed them something that looked almost like a car’s steering wheel, also matching the colors of their Lions.

“These are your bayards,” Will explained. “They are your own personal weapons that will mold to your strengths. Concentrate on activating them.”

Percy held his bayard out and shut his eyes tight, only opening them once he felt the weight of the object in his hand change, the balance shifting as the weapon elongated. The weapon in his hand now appeared as a blue and white blade, fat and short, only about two feet long and double-edged - ideal for hacking away at enemies. “Sick,” Percy said, and swung the blade around for a moment before turning toward the other paladins.

Nico went next, though he kept his eyes open as his bayard transformed into a much longer blade than Percy’s, thinner, red and white, one edge sharper than the other - a full three-foot-long sword. He made no flashy display before focusing his attention on Frank beside him.

Frank held his bayard out in front of him, arm stretched out fully as both ends of his bayard stretched out into a curved shape, a thin string of light connecting the two ends - a white and yellow bow that almost appeared golden. Frank plucked the string with a single finger, and a few sparks seemed to fly off the string. He pulled the string back fully, an arrow of golden light appearing as he did so, and when he released his hold, the arrow flew across the room, burning a hole straight through the door.

Leo didn’t wait for everyone’s attention, concentrating on his bayard and watching as the edge over his fingers began to glow green, the light sharpening into a point.

“Aw, yours is so tiny,” Percy teased, and Leo reached out to prod him with the pointed edge of his bayard, sending a shock into Percy’s body. “Shit!”

Once Leo had stopped laughing, the four paladins all turned toward Jason, who was empty handed.

“Unfortunately, Jason,” Will said, “your bayard was lost with your former paladin. We may be able to find you a...less practicalweapon somewhere on the ship, but there is always the possibility that your bayard could be found eventually.”

Jason nodded. “Let’s see how reclaiming the Green Lion goes, then I’ll talk weapons.”

Leo whoop ed, pumping his fists into the air, and the glowing edge of his bayard shot upwards, latching onto the ceiling like a grappling hook. “Sweet, let’s go!” he shouted, before his bayard yanked him off the ground.

The paladins went their separate ways, launching off into space to retrieve the other Lions, though Nico didn’t know what to do with himself. Will seemed to notice, however, and offered, “If you’d like, I can help you learn how to use your bayard. We can head up to the training deck to practice while we’re waiting for the others to return.”

Nico flexed his fingers on the handle of his deactivated bayard. “Uh, yeah, sure. Sounds good.”

He followed Will down the hall and into an elevator, watching as they traveled up about three floors until the door opened and they walked out into a short hallway. The only doorway in the hall led to a giant room, octagonal shaped with boundary lines on the floor and a few racks of practice weapons along the back walls.

Will left Nico at the center of the room as he ran toward the racks and pulled out a simple staff about as tall as he was. As he returned to Nico, he spun the staff around skillfully, though it was obvious that he was taking a moment to get reacquainted with the movement.

“I’ll warn you, I’ve had a lot of practice,” Will told him with an excited smile. “I’ll try to remember to go easy on you, but no promises.”

“I can take it,” Nico responded, activating his bayard and grabbing the handle with both hands. Before he knew it, his feet were swept out from underneath him, and he flopped down on his back.

He stared in shock at the ceiling before Will stepped over him, holding out a hand. “Sorry,” he said, holding back a laugh, “I couldn’t help myself. You’re going to need to pay more attention than that.”

Nico huffed and took Will’s hand, hopping back onto his feet. “Alright, let’s go again.” He readied his stance, and just as he went to strike, Will hit him in the side, knocking him off balance, and then loosened the bayard from his grip. He pushed Nico back with a single sharp hit in the center of his chest with the end of his staff, and as Nico fell back once more, his bayard flew out of his grip.

“Again,” Nico said, launching forward as soon as the bayard was back in his hand, stabbing at Will’s leg, but he was swept to the side, shoved face-down onto the floor of the deck. He rolled over onto his back just as Will held out another hand, smiling down at Nico. He should’ve been angry, would have if Will were anyone else, but Nico knew there was no malice in his expression. Will wasn’t enjoying watching Nico fail, he was just enjoying the fight itself.

“Try again?” Will offered, and pulled Nico to his feet once more.

Nico quickly learned how to defend his weakest points, gradually lasting longer in each round. Still, he found himself slammed face-first into the ground three times, his sword knocked out of his hands five times, and pinned to the ground with the air knocked out of his lungs twice - though he wasn’t sure if that was from the impact or the look in Will’s eyes as he took him out.

“I’m sorry,” Will said, removing the knee he had planted in the center of Nico’s chest. “I keep forgetting to go easy on you.”

“‘s fine,” Nico wheezed, and when Will held out a hand, Nico almost couldn’t lift his arm to be pulled back up to his feet.

“Are you sure? I think it’s time to take a rest,” Will told him with a soft chuckle.

“No, let’s go again, I can do this,” Nico insisted. Will pulled Nico up and he managed to stand on his own for approximately two seconds before his legs seemed to give out and he fell forward into Will’s chest. He saw spots swimming in his vision, suddenly unsure of which way was up.

“Nope, you don’t look very good,” Will told him. “Let’s get you back to your room before you fall unconscious.”

He wrapped an arm around Nico’s waist, half dragging him out of the room and back into the elevator. Nico tried to pay attention to which buttons Will had pushed to get the elevator to move, but either he’d hit his head a few too many times or the symbols on the buttons were indecipherable squiggles - actually, probably both.

When the elevator doors opened, they staggered down the hall to the room that Nico had claimed as his own, and Will helped Nico to sit on the edge of the bed. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have been so rough with you,” Will said, and Nico felt his face heat up at the words. Suddenly, Will was leaning in close and holding Nico’s cheeks in his hands. “Your face just got really red, are you alright?”

“Uh, yeah,” Nico replied. “That’s just the, uh, the blood rushing to my head.”

Will’s eyes grew wide. “Do you mean that you’re...bleeding internally? Are you sure you’re alright? We should go to the med bay--”

“No, no! I’m not bleeding internally!” Nico said quickly. “It’s just-- I’m blushing, okay? I’m fine.”

The tension drained out of Will’s shoulders, though his expression showed confusion. “We have some medicine here in the castle that will help you to regain your strength in case the other paladins return soon. Perhaps it will cure this blushing as well. Stay here, I’ll go get it.”

“You can’t just cure it,” Nico tried to tell him, but Will was already out of the room by the time he finished speaking.

He sighed and leaned forward to try to figure out how to remove his boots and shin guards. He was sure there was a better way to remove the shin guards then to just slide them off over his feet, but he couldn’t figure it out. He tossed the discarded bits of armor into the corner before laying back and sticking one leg into the air at a time to remove the thigh guards.

He managed to remove every piece of armor aside from the chest plate by the time Will returned. Will seemed to notice him struggling and quickly unclipped a few clasps on either side of the piece, and Nico was able to lift the armor off over his head easily.

As soon as the last piece of armor joined the rest on the floor, Will handed Nico what looked like a shot glass containing a very green substance.

“What is it?” Nico asked cautiously.

“Medicine,” Will answered. “You should feel the effects almost immediately after drinking it. You’ll feel refreshed and be ready to fight again in minutes.”

Nico sighed and held the glass close to his lips. He met Will’s eyes for a second before glancing toward his bag, still sitting on the desk where he’d left in. He nodded his head toward it and said, “Could you grab that for me?” before knocking the drink back. It had the same texture as jello that was starting to liquify, and tasted so foul that Nico almost gagged. He forced the shot glass back into Will’s hand before he pointed at his bag and said, “My bag, please?”

“Oh! Of course,” Will answered. He spun around to grab the bag, replacing it with the glass, and by the time he turned back around, Nico had pulled the shirt of his black thermal suit off over his head.

“Thanks,” he said when Will held out the bag, and set it on the bed next to him. He opened up the bag and dug around inside as he said, “That medicine was gross, by the way.” Nico pulled a black, oversized, hooded pullover out of his bag and put it on. “I think I am starting to feel better already, though.” He glanced up at Will who looked to be frozen in place, staring at Nico.

Nico frowned. “Your little blue marks are glowing,” he said, pointing at his own cheekbone.

“It’s nothing!” Will said quickly, slightly too loud, and averted his eyes. “You should rest, so I’ll be leaving. I’ll come back to get you when the other paladins return. Um. Rest well.” He stepped toward the door before spinning around and swiping the shot glass off Nico’s desk, and practically ran out of the room.

Will went straight to the bridge where he knew Piper would still be monitoring the other paladins’ progress.

“What’s gotten into you?” she asked, barely taking her eyes off the map for a second to look at him.

“I don’t think these paladins have any shame,” he said, somewhat out of breath. “The Red Paladin, he--”

Piper rolled her eyes. “Spit it out, Willow.”

“He undressed! Right there in front of me!” Will told her, reaching up and rubbing at the marks on his cheeks. “He acted like it was nothing unusual, and continued on with our conversation, and now I can’t get my marks to stop burning!”

Piper stifled a laugh, though the look on her face gave her away.

“Don’t laugh at me, this is serious!”

“So you’re infatuated with him , Will, it’s not that serious,” Piper told him.

“I’m not infatuated!”

Nico had trained his body to sleep for only a few hours at a time, because it was dangerous to live alone in the middle of the desert with no security except for the knife he kept on him at all times. So when he woke up, it was easy for him to assume that he’d been asleep somewhere between three and four hours, because he hadn’t slept for longer than a few hours in months.

He took a pair of gray skinny jeans out of his bag and slipped them on before he left his room. He wandered around the halls for a little while before he finally managed to find his way back to the bridge, where he found Will and Piper staring at the projected maps and talking quietly to each other.

He was about to make himself known when suddenly, Frank’s face appeared over a section of the map, surrounded by a faint yellow glow. “We’ve retrieved the Yellow Lion. Percy and I are on our way back now.”

“Wonderful, we’ll see you soon,” Piper responded, and Frank’s face flashed away, like an old TV turning off.

Nico stepped into the room, opening his mouth to speak, when his stomach growled loudly, revealing his position to the Alteans. “Um. Sorry. Is there anything I can eat before the others get back?”

“Of course,” Will answered, and hopped up out of his seat. He ignored the look that Piper shot him as he walked past, and led Nico back to the dining room. He gestured for Nico to sit at the table as he continued past and into the kitchen, preparing Nico a plate of food.

When he set the plate of pale green goo in front of Nico, the human scrunched up his nose. “What’s up with you guys and weird gooey green stuff?”

Will smiled as he sat down across from Nico, though he didn’t have any food to eat himself. “I promise, this tastes much better than the medicine I gave you.”

Nico raised an eyebrow at Will, like you wanna bet? But he picked up his spork and scooped up a tiny portion of goo, stuffing it in his mouth quickly to get it over with.

“Well?” Will asked.

“It’s weird,” Nico answered. “Like eating whipped cream if whipped cream wasn’t sweet.”

Will propped his head up on one hand. “I don’t know what that is,” he said, smile growing slightly.

Nico popped another spork-full of flavorless goo into his mouth, giving himself a moment to think before he spoke. “It’s white, and I guess a little thinner than this stuff. It’s pretty sweet. We usually use it as a topping on desserts.” Nico ate another bite. “Actually, it might be more like jello, because of the texture.”

“I don’t know what that is, either,” Will told him, smile still growing steadily.

“It’s like,” Nico paused, stabbing at his plate of goo a few times. “It looks like this, except a little more transparent. And sometimes it’s red or blue or another color. Some people eat it as a snack, but some eat it as dessert because it’s super sweet and full of sugar.”

“It sounds like your planet is full of sweet things,” Will said smoothly.

Nico looked up at him and froze with his spork halfway up to his mouth. Will was looking at him so softly, those little blue marks on his cheeks glowing once more. Nico felt his cheeks heat up as he stared back down at his plate, stuffing another bite into his mouth.

“There’s more than just sweets,” Nico said, and glanced up to see Will’s lips parting to respond, but a different voice was heard suddenly: “The Blue and Yellow Lions have returned to the castle, and I have received a message from Jason that the Green Lion is on its way as well.”

“I should, uh, probably go put my armor back on, right?” Nico asked, and then ate a few more quick bites before standing up from his seat. He lifted up his plate and said, “Uh, what should I--”

“I’ll take care of it,” Will told him, rising up and taking the dish from his hands. “You go get ready.”

The five paladins all gathered together so that Piper could give them direction. “I’ve gathered that the Red Lion is located on an enemy ship, which means that it will most likely be heavily guarded by Galra soldiers. You will be targeted as soon as you are in range of their ship, so you must be incredibly careful when approaching it. Jason will be staying in the castle with myself and Will. Nico, you will go with Percy in the Blue Lion, and the Yellow and Green Lions will provide you with cover.”

“How am I supposed to find the Red Lion once I’m inside?” Nico asked.

“I’ll be directing you,” Will answered. “Once you’re inside, I should be able to get a layout of the ship, so I can direct you to the most likely place that the Red Lion will be kept.”

“Is everyone clear on what is to be done?” Piper asked.

“No,” Leo said, “but I’m sure we’ll figure it out as we go.”

“That doesn’t sound as reassuring as you think it did,” Frank told him.

“Alright, everyone,” Jason interrupted. “You heard the princess, get to your Lions.”

“Yes, sir,” Percy said with a mocking salute. He spun around and marched off toward the hangers where the lions were kept, the other three paladins gradually following behind.

Nico made sure to seem as though he was following closely behind Percy, but as soon as he was sure that Jason and Piper couldn’t see them, he ditched Percy and snuck into the Yellow Lion’s hanger with Frank.

“Uh, aren’t you supposed to be with Percy?” Frank asked as he dropped into the pilot’s seat, and Nico braced himself for takeoff by grabbing onto the back of Frank’s chair.

“Why, are you going to turn this lion around?” Nico joked, though the look on his face made Frank unsure of whether or not he was actually serious.

“Of course not, we don’t have the time for that,” Frank said, and the lion launched out of the hangar.

The other lions were waiting for them outside of the castle. Percy’s face appeared on the dashboard screen. “Hey, uh, Nico’s not with me,” he said, glancing around the cockpit of the Blue Lion to see if Nico was possibly hiding from him.

“He’s with me,” Frank responded. “Let’s get going so we can get the Red Lion.”

Almost simultaneously, the three lions shot into the sky and out of the planet’s atmosphere.

“How did you get Yellow to respond to you?” Nico asked suddenly.

“What do you mean?” Frank said. “It just happened.”

“What if the Red Lion doesn’t respond to me? What if I’m not its paladin and going all this way will have been for nothing? I’m putting us all in danger for nothing.”

“Okay, well, it’s not for nothing,” Frank told him. “And the Red Lion will respond, because it has to, got it? Just do everything you can to make it happen. When Percy and I went to go get Yellow, we were ambushed, and I basically had to tuck-and-roll out of the Blue Lion and book it for where the Yellow Lion had been hidden.

“I found him in this cave, kinda like how we found Blue, and I was running full speed down this tunnel, just shouting, ‘Open up! Open up!’ And Yellow responded. I didn’t do anything, it was all him.”

“‘Him’?” Nico repeated. “You gendered your lion?”

“It just, I dunno, feels right,” Frank answered. “I think we’re getting close to the target. Amazing how fast these things can fly, right?”

Percy and Leo provided cover as Frank flew close to the enemy ship. Yellow blasted a hole in the side of the craft and Frank maneuvered him until Yellow’s snout had pushed into the ship so that Nico could climb out through the mouth.

The hallway inside the ship was empty, but Nico drew his bayard anyway in preparation for a fight.

“Nico, are you inside the ship?” Will’s voice crackled into Nico’s helmet.

“Yeah, which way do I go?” he asked, staring down one end of the hallway and then the other.

“Just start moving, I haven’t gotten a clear signal yet,” Will told him. “I’ll let you know which way to go when I figure it out.”

“Got it,” Nico responded, and started down the hall to his right. He could hear Will speaking to himself, sometimes clear, sometimes riddled with static. He continued forward, taking a left down another hall when the opportunity came. “Anything?” he asked after a short while.

“Maybe,” Will said. “Take the next right.”

Nico glanced around the corner at the next intersection of hallways, and jumped back almost immediately, pressing his back against the wall. “No can do. There’s about ten sentries standing around.”

“Fight through them,” Will told him. “It’s the right way.”

“You just said maybe!” Nico hissed.

“Trust me!” Will demanded, and Nico wanted to argue, but knew he shouldn’t.

“Fine,” he ground out through his teeth. He peeked around the corner again before taking a deep breath and running full speed down the hall toward the sentries.

He almost faltered when he saw the guns pointed at him, but managed to continue forward, dodging blasts and slicing through enemies as he passed. The remaining soldiers started running after him, but Nico was faster and took a few turns down upcoming hallways to throw them off his trail.

“Will?” he panted, back pressed into another wall. “Which way now?”

No response. A bit of static. Silence.

“Will?” Nico tried again, but to no avail. “Damn it!”

He took a few more deep breaths. He tightened his grip on his sword, holding up the blade for examination when he noticed that it was still perfectly clean. He’d sliced a few limbs off of some of those sentries, and did a lot more damage for there to not even be any trace of blood on the weapon. Maybe Galra didn’t have blood.

He noticed something caught near the handle of his bayard - thin, like a cable, with frayed wires along the edges.

“They’re robots,” Nico decided. “I can kill robots, easy. I’m not really killing anything if they’re just robots.”

He glanced around the corner before making his way back the way he came. So many sentries in one place but nowhere else on the ship had to be guarding something, even if it wasn’t what Nico was looking for. Sprinting down the hall, he fought off a few more sentries before slipping in through the door they were guarding, slamming it shut behind him and allowing himself a few seconds to breathe.

Towering above him - though still slightly smaller than the Blue and Yellow Lions - sat Red, unmoving, a softly glowing force field surrounding it.

Nico stepped toward the lion and raised his hand to press his palm against the force field, just like Percy had done with the Blue Lion, though the force field remained. Nico pounded his fist against the barrier, demanding, “Come on, open up!”

He could hear the sentries’ blasters firing against the door.

“We don’t have time for this!” Nico pleaded. “Please? Is that what you want to hear? Open up, please!”

The forcefield dissolved, and the lion’s head tilted down to examine Nico before it crouched down, mouth open, so that Nico could run inside.

He dropped into the pilot’s seat, Red’s dashboard screens slowly coming to life around him. He could see the locations of each of the other lions as they fought of Galra ships, as well as a video feed of each of the other paladins. As Nico set his hands on the control and Red started to move, another screen came to life on the dashboard displaying Will’s smiling face.

“The Red Lion has been retrieved!” Will exclaimed, and Nico could hear the other paladins cheering through his helmet.

“Great work,” Piper said, though Nico couldn’t see her on his dashboard. “Now, everyone return to the castle as soon as possible.”

“Will do, Princess,” Leo said, and Nico watched through his lion’s eyes as the Green Lion barrel-rolled out of the line of fire and retreated. The other three lions followed after, and soon the few Galra cruisers still tailing them turned back. In a matter of minutes, the four lions touched down on Arus, just outside of the castle.

Not long after, they watched as a purple streak shot out of the center of the castle, and soon the Black Lion was towering over them.

“Dude, Jason, your lion is huge!” Leo exclaimed. “That’s no fair, Green’s like, the size of one of Black’s legs!”

“The Green and Red Lions function as Voltron’s arms, meaning that they don’t need to be as large as the Blue, Yellow, or Black Lions,” Will explained over the comms.

“Congratulations, Paladins, you’re one step closer to forming Voltron,” Piper told them. “Everyone return to the castle to get some rest. We will start your training tomorrow morning.”

After changing out of the Paladin armor, the five humans each ate a plate of alien food goo before Piper insisted that they all head to their rooms for the night. Four of the Paladins rose from their chairs and left the dining room, while Nico lingered behind, cleaning up the plates left by the others.

“Did you need something, Nico?” Will asked as he took the stack of plates from Nico’s hands.

“Um, yeah,” he said, shoving his hands into the pocket of his sweatshirt so that he could try to ignore the tingling tips of his fingers where Will’s hands had brushed his. “I was hoping I could get some more training in while everyone else is sleeping.”

“Oh, sure!” Will said. “But I have a few other things that I need to do before morning. I could show you how to set up the Gladiator, though.”

“The Gladiator?” Nico repeated.

“It’s a training robot,” Will explained. “You can set it to different skill levels, which is probably a good choice for late-night training. You can take it easy so that you’re not exhausted in the morning.”

“Yeah, okay, that sounds...good,” Nico said, hoping that his mild disappointment that Will wouldn’t be training with him didn’t show clearly on his face.

Will led him back to the training deck and called into the empty room, “Activate training simulator.” He glanced over to see that Nico had already activated his bayard, so he continued, “Training level one, begin.”

A robot dropped from the ceiling wielding a metal staff like the one Will had used, and charged at Nico as soon as its feet touched the ground.

Will stayed behind to watch as Nico took down the Gladiator with little difficulty, and when Nico turned to him with a wide smile, Will couldn’t help but return it.

“Looks like you’ve got yourself handled,” Will said. “To activate the Gladiator, just call out a level and say begin. I don’t recommend skipping levels. And make sure you get some rest soon, alright?”

“Yeah, okay,” he answered. “Thanks, Will.” Nico turned back to see the Gladiator fall through a hole in the floor of the training deck. “Training level two, begin!”

Will moved toward the doorway, but found himself distracted by Nico’s training. He knew he had work to do, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Nico for the duration of the second training level. However, hearing Nico call out for the third level to begin drew Will out of his trance, and he managed to pull himself away.

Nico had been so focused on fighting that he hadn’t seen Will watching him, and had continued on until the end of the fifth level before he found himself too exhausted to go on. He surprised himself with how long he had been able to fight without losing his focus, and figured it may have been the focus that kept him fighting as long as he had. If he made it all the way through the first five training levels, there was no logical explanation for why Will had been able to beat him so easily unless he was distracted, right? But that had to mean that Will was the distraction--

He was too tired to think about this. He was too tired to remember the way back to his room, and he was too tired to even try to find his way. He eyed the Gladiator waiting for instruction, and when he remembered that the robot wouldn’t attack without a command, he deactivated his bayard and moved toward the wall furthest from the Gladiator.

Nico laid down, back pressed against the wall, and curled up around his bayard, incredibly grateful for his ability to fall asleep literally anywhere.

The paladins were rowdy at breakfast, all excited to start their training and get to forming Voltron. There was something that didn’t seem quite right to Will, however; something was missing.

Piper entered the room, and for a second Will thought that she had filled the empty space he’d imagined, but he quickly realized he was wrong when Piper said, “Good morning, Paladins, are you ready to start-- Where is the Red Paladin?”

Leo leaned forward and back, looking around the others to see that Nico wasn’t sitting anywhere at the table. “Oh yeah, where is he?”

“I’ll go find him,” Will said, probably too quickly if the look that Piper was giving him was anything to go by. “So you can start directing them, and they won’t miss anything,” he explained. “I’ll return as soon as possible.”

He left the room, waiting until he was a little ways down the hall before he rubbed his palms over the marks on his cheeks, hoping to stop the burning that he felt there.

Will made his way down to Nico’s room, knocking on the door a few times before opening it and seeing that it was empty. He checked the bathrooms on that floor and the floor above, but Nico wasn’t in either of those places either. He was starting to get worried when he remembered that he’d shown Nico to the training deck the night before - he couldn’t still be training, could he?

He hopped into the elevator and went up to the training deck, seeing from the hallway that the lights were still on inside. Will stepped through the door and saw the Gladiator activated in the center of the room, though it wasn’t making any move to attack, so he called out for the computer to deactivate it. He didn’t see Nico until he spun around in a circle and found him lying on the ground against the wall, curled around his bayard, unmoving.

Will felt his heart stop for a second before he ran toward the paladin, eyes scanning him for injuries and placing a hand on his shoulder once he was close enough. Nico flinched at the touch, waking up in an instant and activating his bayard out to the sword’s full length, nearly stabbing Will through the chest as he did so.

“Will?” Nico said, voice rough from sleep, dropping his bayard which deactivated as soon as it hit the ground. “Shit, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to, I swear!”

“It’s alright,” Will told him, though Nico could see nothing but concern in his eyes as he sat up until they were nearly eye-level with each other. “I’m okay. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m-- I mean, I’m a little tired, but, yeah,” Nico told him. “Um. How long was I asleep?”

“I’m not sure,” Will said. “If I had to guess, I would say at least six vargas.”

Nico frowned in confusion, rubbing the sleep out of one of his eyes as he said, “I don’t know what that is.”

“About twice as long as your last sleep cycle,” Will explained. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good. I’m just, uh, not really used to sleeping that much, I guess.”

Will frowned like he wasn’t quite satisfied with that answer, but stood up and held out a hand to Nico after a few seconds. “Come with me to the dining room to get something to eat. Everyone else is there already.”

“Okay, sure.” Nico took his hand.

Things were quiet on their walk back to the dining room, which allowed Nico to hear Piper from a little ways down the hall: “Once the Red Paladin arrives, you will head to your Lions and practice forming Voltron. This will require great concentration and a strong bond with your fellow Paladins.” As soon as she noticed Nico standing in the doorway, Piper clapped her hands together and said, “Alright, Paladins, to your Lions!”

buy me a coffee | more about solangelo week

[thegoldenonyx]

Minor Details

Another Solangelo!!!! This prompt was given to me by @trashynico and I had a lot of fun writing it! The last Solangelo I posted yesterday has already received so much love, so thank you all so much!!! This story is a tad longer than the last and I hope yall like it!

It was no secret, Nico was a private guy. He kept to himself, keeping his life his own. Ever since the war with Gaea ended, he had been better at letting people in. He found friends in Jason and Piper, he got closer to his sister Hazel and he boyfriend Frank, he was able to put aside the awkwardness between himself, Percy, and Annabeth, and maybe he wouldn’t actually kill Leo the next time he saw him. It wasn’t his relationship with any of them, however, that was the most revolutionary, but rather his relationship with a certain son of Apollo. That really was no secret, since the war it was obvious that the two of them had grown rather close. What was a secret, at least as far as he was concerned, was exactly how close the two of them had become.

Nico didn’t mean for their relationship to stay in the dark for as long as it had. He had intended on taking it slow at first, the two of them coming out when they were ready, but that had been months ago. Nico wasn’t exactly scared to tell his friends, they all knew he was gay and he was in no way embarrassed by Will. In fact, Nico still had no clue how he had managed someone as great as Will, not to mention Will himself. No, Nico had initially put it off because, well, he wasn’t actually sure, but now that months had gone by, now he was a little scared. How would his friends react because he had kept it from them for months? They had each approached him about his relationship with Will, but he always denied it, eventually it got to the point they stopped asking.

“What are you thinking so hard about?” Will asked, wrapping his warm arms around Nico and pulling him close, the warmth of Will and the tangled sheets providing him with ample comfort.

“Why are we still dancing around everyone?” Nico asked, snuggling deeper into Will’s embrace. Will shifted to hold him in a more comfortable position.

“Habit I guess,” he shrugged against Nico’s back. “Why? Whatcha thinking?”

“I just don’t understand why I felt the need in the first place,” he decided, closing his eyes and leaning his head back onto Will’s bare chest.

“They’ll figure it out sooner or later,” Will yawned, pressing his head into Nico’s neck. With a soft smile on his face, Nico fell asleep, exhausted from the nights activities.

As it turned out, his friends really did find out sooner as opposed to later, and by sooner, it meant the next day. Just like most mornings, by the time Nico woke up, he was alone in the Hades cabin, since Will had to get up at the crack of dawn to start his infirmary shift. At first, it bothered Nico, waking up alone, but he knew that it wouldn’t be long before he got to see Will again, so he quickly got over it. Nico blames the next sequence of events on being dazed from last night, because in the end he didn’t think as much about his appearance as he probably should have. Throwing on a dark t shirt and some black jeans, Nico left his cabin without a second glance, and that was his main issue.

He was used to the staring, being the son of Hades and all, but after the war with Gaea it had died down significantly, so why, on this day, were all eyes suddenly on him again. He couldn’t understand why, he hadn’t down anything significant recently, and the stares seemed to be different than the ones he usually got. When he walked to the pavilion for breakfast, the Stolls’ wolf whistled at him, the Aphrodite table giggled and talked in hushed voices, and his friends immediately surrounded him.

“What’s everyone’s problem today?” Nico asked looking around at his friends. Annabeth and Piper both had knowing grins on their faces while Jason and Percy wouldn’t look him in the eye, but rather were looking seemingly at his neck.

“What?” Nico asked, suddenly very self-conscious. He didn’t know what was happening, but he didn’t have a good feeling about it. Before any of his friends could answer, Will entered the pavilion, and the room went dead quiet. Will looked around, confused at the sudden silence, before his eyes found Nico. His entire face lit up, before something caught his attention and his entire face went red from embarrassment. Will rushed over to Nico and grabbed his hand, pulling him away from his friends and out of the pavilion. As soon as they were out of sight, the room erupted into noise again.

Nico wasn’t sure what was happening, but Will didn’t stop until they were deep in the forest, and even then he refused to look at Nico.

“Will, what’s going on?” Nico asked, tilting his head to one side. He learned early on that Will couldn’t resist that subtle movement.

“Nico I…” Will started, only to trail off before he could really get anywhere.

“What is it?” Nico asked, finding Will’s eyes. The other boy’s face was still entirely scarlet, and Nico for the life of him couldn’t figure out why.

“I may have left a mark…” he trailed off, glancing away from Nico and towards the ground. Nico stood in confusion, wondering what the hell Will meant by that, before finally understanding.

“Oh,” he said, reaching his hand up towards his neck. He really should have checked his appearance before he left his cabin this morning. “Well, at least now I don’t have to worry about how to tell everyone,” he shrugged. Will’s head shot up, shocked eyes meeting with Nico’s.

“You’re fine with this?” Will asked, his voice amazed.

“Well yeah, I’m not ashamed of you Will, I have no reason for them not to know. I love you, and it’s about time the world knew that,” he confessed, his face reddening to match. Will smiled one of his big, blinding grins and pulled Nico in for a long meaningful kiss. When they broke apart, Nico looked seriously into Will’s eyes.

“Just, don’t make a habit of leaving marks where people can see,” he warned, his eyes light.

“No promises,” Will chuckled, and they turned back towards camp, hand in hand, ready to face whatever, or whoever, was waiting for them.

[solangelover]

ANNOYING

A/N: Crazy thing, this just flowed out of me somehow. Based on this hilarious post that I genuinely resonate with LOL. Enjoy :)

Read on AO3 or FF.net (I also started using Wattpad @ thwipster808)

“Ugh, he’s just so ANNOYING!” Nico was currently ranting to his sister about a certain son of Apollo. They were hanging out in the Hades cabin before lunch. “I mean, seriously, how can he be so damn happy and cheery all the time??? It’s just sickening. And there’s no way it’s genuine. That’s not possible.”

“You know, I’m just getting to know this Will guy, but he sounds very nice. And it sounds like you hate him because he’s such a great person. Which, by the way, is very stereotypical of Hades kids so you’re not being very helpful.” Hazel rolled her eyes at her brother. All she asked was “So what’s new?” and this tirade about Will ensued. She didn’t know the guy, but she was sure he was great. She was also sure there was something else going on here.

Nico turned to look at her, exasperated. “Hazel, you don’t understand. He’s just.. too much. He’s like literal sunshine and it’s just so irritating!” He put his hands in his hair and moved about the cabin. “His stupid golden hair is nearly blinding in the sun. He is always talking to people and laughing and it’s so loud and obnoxious like I can hear it across camp. And his smile?? Gods, Hazel, his smile is the WORST. It’s big and bright and lights up his whole being, making him even more… him!!” Nico plopped down on the couch next to Hazel, almost like he was exhausted talking about Will. He couldn’t put the boy out of his head for some reason, which irked him to no end.

“Hmm,” Hazel tapped her chin, as if in thought. “Well, to me, it sounds like you know this guy pretty well. From his hair, to his smile, to his laugh. You spend a lot of time with him?” Hazel looked at Nico with a twinkle in her eye. She was starting to see something that maybe Nico didn’t yet.

Nico squinted at her suspiciously. “I’m only with him in the infirmary a lot because he forces me. He thinks I need help and that he’s now my personal doctor. Who does he think he is, honestly?” Nico looked away, his mind going to his latest stay in the infirmary. Nico had gotten some scratches from training and Will had insisted that he get bandaged up. They both knew it was ridiculous and completely unnecessary, but went along with it. Nico felt something spark whenever Will accidentally brushed his fingers against his skin, which made Nico sort of giddy, but also defensive and stubborn for some reason. Nico refused to feel that spark again, even though something in his gut tugged him toward it, and marched right out the door, seething with annoyance at Will Solace.

The lunch bell rang, bringing Nico back to the present. He looked back at his sister, who still had that look in her eyes, like she knew something Nico didn’t. It bothered him.

“We better head to the pavilion.” Nico got up off the couch and moved towards the door.

“Sure thing.” Hazel followed suit. “Maybe you can introduce me to this guy you’re obsessed with.”

“I’m not obsessed! He’s infuriating!” Nico blushed at Hazel’s words, but he blamed it on his anger.

Hazel just smirked, walking out the door ahead of Nico. “Whatever you say, brother dearest.”

---

Jason came to sit with Nico and Hazel for lunch. “Hey guys. How are you doing, Hazel?”

“Great! Camp Jupiter is same as always, Frank and Reyna doing all the praetor things. I’m just visiting for a few days.” She cast a glance at Nico. “Nico was just telling me about life here. Apparently, there’s this SUPER ANNOYING guy that Nico can’t stop gushing about.” She suppressed a smile as she spoke.

Nico huffed, his eyes flitting over to said guy. “Seriously, shut up, Hazel.”

“Why do I have to shut up about him when I can’t get a sentence out of you that’s not about him?” Hazel had a full-blown grin on her face now, clearly proud of herself.

Nico blushed involuntarily, hating himself for giving her that satisfaction. She may have seemed sweet, but she ragged on Nico like no other.

“Ah, we must be talking about the infamous Will Solace. Blond hair? Blue eyes? Bright smile? Literally the nicest person at camp? Cares about everyone and saves lives daily?” Jason raised an eyebrow at Nico, his words eliciting a giggle from Hazel.

“That sounds like him. I have yet to meet him, but he sounds absolutely awful.” Hazel gazed around the pavilion, trying to pick out the bane of Nico’s existence.

Nico ducked his head, hoping Will didn’t look over. “You guys are the worst. I swear if he hears you and comes over—”

“You’ll thank us?” Hazel interrupted. Nico only glared in response.

In the process of glaring, Nico noticed that Will was sitting in his line of sight. At that moment, the son of Apollo turned and made eye contact with Nico. Nico’s eyes widened, but he didn’t have the mind to look away. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stop, why are his eyes so BLUE???, STOP, were the only thoughts in Nico’s head.

Then Will smiled a real, genuine, Will smile. Nico turned bright red. He felt like his body was betraying him.

Hazel had noticed Nico’s staring and turned around, finally seeing this boy they’d been talking about. He looked at her and waved good-naturedly. She waved back and turned to Nico, barely containing her laughter at his blushing.

Nico slammed his fist on the table. “That’s fucking it! I’m killing him.”

Hazel gently put her hand over his fist, laughing as she said, “OR, you could just man up and ask him out?” Nico was hopeless, and she couldn’t believe he was so head-over-heels for this guy without doing anything about it.

Nico gulped at the idea of, well, anything to do with Will besides disliking him. “K-killing.. is easier…”

Hazel rolled her eyes, “I’m sure.”

By now, Jason was rolling with laughter, tears forming in his eyes. “Nico,” he said between laughs. “You need to work on positively expressing your emotions.”

---

Will sat at his table, watching the chaos at the Hades table. He wondered what they could possibly be talking about.

[writing-right]

Flowers

Fandom:Percy Jackson

Ship: Solangelo (Yes, again. I have no shame)

Prompt: “Sometimes I steal flowers from your garden on my way to the cemetery, but today you’ve caught me and have demanded to come with me to make sure the “girl is pretty enough to warrant flower theft” and I’m trying to figure out how to break it to you that we’re on our way to the a graveyard” With Nico staring as the flower thief and Will being the flower holder person.

The first time Nico stole someone else’s flowers, it was completely by accident. Usually, he buys the flowers a day or two ahead, so he can definitely remember to go. But the last two days he’d been awfully busy. His friends Jason, Percy, Leo, and Frank thought it would be a good idea to have a “Guy’s Weekend” over at Jason’s place. And so, wanting to try and be a good friend, he went.

They watched movies, played video games, attempted doing card tricks, and just doing whatever they wanted. Nico had to admit, he did have a pretty good time. But in the back of his mind, he still thought of the flowers.

So, first thing Monday morning, Nico left Jason’s. He intended to go to whatever store was nearest and buy some flowers. Until he realized that he had no idea what stores were nearest to him.

He could recall that Jason’s place was closest to his destination than his own house, as he usually drives or rides his bike. So, he set off, with the intention of picking up whatever flowers he found along the way.

As Nico was nearing his destination, a slight panic came over him. He still didn’t have flowers.

When he has about two or so blocks away, he stated to look around. He saw this house that had a lovely garden in the front. It had flowers of different color and variety.

Part of him knew what he was about to do was wrong, but another part of him just didn't care. He needed the flowers. Plus, he could always stop buy and apologize.

So, without any more doubts, Nico headed towards the strangers garden. He didn't want to take too many, as that would be too noticeable. He decided to jus take one of every flower.

Once he had what he needed, he quickly left the garden, intending to apologize the next time he came around. He was unaware of the eyes that were watching him from behind the window of the house who’s flowers he just stole.

The next time Nico stole flowers, it was, once again, accidental.

He had a lot on his mind. He was going to meet up with his friend Reyna afterwards. He hadn’t seen her in a while, as she had traveled out of the country to visit some family, so he was excited to see her again. He just wanted to get some flowers and drop them off.

Except that he woke up later than usual that day and had just about two hours until he had to meet up with Reyna.

So, Nico quickly threw on some clothes and was out the door onto his bike. He didn’t have any time to go to any store, so he just rode on down the same path he took last time.

He ended up at the same house as before. He knew he shouldn't take any more flowers (he still hadn't apologized for the last flowers he had taken). But he was empty handed. He couldn’t show up empty handed.

So, with the intention of both apologizing and replacing the flowers he took, he didi what he dd last time. He took one of every flower. He was semi-pleased to find that, if you didn’t pay too close attention, you wouldn’t even notice the missing flowers.

Nico left the garden, once again not noticing that he was being watched.

From then on, it just became kind of, instinctual. Anytime he was going to his destination, he always ended up by the same house. Nico never took too much, not wanting it to get noticeable, but he took just enough.

But even though he was taking their flowers, he never actually met and apologized to the owner of the flowers. He had hoped he would get to one day.

After a couple of months of flower stealing, Will decided he wanted to meet this flower stealer. He had nothing against them. Will always planted new flowers after the boy left. He was just, curious. Curious as to where his flowers were going. Curious as to why they had decided to steal his flowers.

So, after a quick calculation, he found when the Flower Boy, as he has started to call him, would come by again. He always came by on the twelfth of every month. So the next time the twelfth came around, Will sat the porch steps, waiting for his Flower Boy.

Nico took his time walking today. He was walking from his house all the way to his destination, which was a good two or so miles. But he didn’t mind. He needed time to think.

The only thing that was bothering him as the cold. It was December now (he had been stealing flowers for about 6 months now, he realized) which meant that it was cold pretty much 24/7.

He wrapped his aviators jacket tighter around himself, then shoved his hands in his pockets to keep them warm. He was nearing the house. Maybe he shouldn’t steal today. Maybe today he’ll just walk by it. Yeah. He’ll just walk by it.

Nico was walking by the house when he heard an unfamiliar voice.

“Hey!”

He turned around. Standing at the gate of the house whose flowers he usually steals was a boy about his age, maybe a year older. He looked to be a bit taller than Nico was, with shaggy blonde hair that reminded him of the sun. He was wearing a beanie on his head, gloves on his hands, jeans and a plain turquoise hoodie.

“Uh, yeah?” Nico looked at the boy quizzically.

“You’re not gonna steal any flowers today?” The boy had a hint of a smirk on his lips.

“What do you- oh.” Nico’s face reddened. He realized who this boy was. This was the owner of the flowers.

Sunny, as Nico had decided to call him, chuckled. “Yeah. So . . .”

“So . . .” Nico ran his hands through his hair. “You’re, uh, probably wondering about the flowers. And who I am.”

Sunny chuckled again. “Yeah, those would be nice to know. How about you show me where my flowers disappear to, and on the way there, you can tell me about yourself?”

“Yeah. Sure.” Nico was about to lead the way when he felt a hand on his shoulder. 

“Wait. Can’t forget about these.” Sunny put a handful of flowers into Nico’s hand. Nico looked at him, confusion on his face. 

Sunny chuckled once again. “Consider these on the house. Besides, I usually plant more.”

This time it was Nico who chuckled, if only a little. He took the flowers from Sunny’s hands. Then he lead the way, with Sunny walking next to him.

“So, what’s your name?” Sunny asked.

“Nico Di Angelo. And you?”

“Will Solace.”

“Nice.” Nico inwardly cringed when he said that. Will, on the other hand, laughed. “Yeah, I guess it is.”

They walking in silence after that. Will was wondering where they headed. Nico was wondering how to break it to Will where they were going.

Finally, they approached the entrance. They stopped walking. Nico turned his body to Will’s, but refused to look at him, his gazed fixed on he flowers. Will looked at the gates, then at the flowers, and then rested on Nico. A look of understanding dawned on his face. 

“Oh, I see. May I ask who?” His eyes watched Nico for any sign that he was getting too nosy. 

“How about I show you instead.” Nico looked back up and lead Will beyond the gates.

A few seconds later, Will and Nico stood in front of a tombstone that held flowers in different stages of life. The tombstone itself read “Biana Di Angelo: Beloved daughter, sister, and friend. 1995-2007.” Nico walked over and placed the new flowers next to some of the older flowers. He stayed there.

Will watched Nico. He figured Bianca must have been Nico’s sister. He also figured that the two must of been really close. He stood there awkwardly for a bit before deciding to kneeling next to Nico.

Nico felt the presence next to him and figured that Will was kneeling next to him. He appreciated that. The two barely even knew each other, yet Nico was showing Will something that was really personal and Will was being respectful about it. 

After a couple more seconds, Nico pushed himself back until he was sitting on the grass. Will did the same. The two sat in a comfortable silence facing the tomb before Will broke the silence.

“So, was she your sister?”

“Yeah. She was the best.”

“Can I ask how?” Will watched Nico.

“Car accident. My mom and her were driving home late at night when a drunk driver drove through a red light.”

“What about your dad?” “He left when I was barley a year old. Bianca was two.” 

“Ahh, I see.”

A comfortable silence settled over the two of them. 

“So,” Will started. “Why weren’t you going to bring flowers today?”

Nico started fiddling with the skull ring on his finger, a gift from his sister. “Today’s the anniversary.” 

“Oh.” Was all Will managed to say. The two sat in silence once again. 

“Do you wanna talk about her? I bet she was a lovely person.”

Nico smiled. “Yeah. Yeah, she was.” 

Nico started to tell Will everything about Bianca. Will happily listened. He was glad he had waited on the porch steps today.

[saskicss-blog]

hihihi pals it’s still meee local sleepy bb elise but this is the new n improved cass ! who is now called saskia and has cailin russo as her fc instead of cami (rip cass/cami my loves). i realised i never did the proper intro post for cass ?? i cheated n linked to her bio oops so here is the loooong overdue intro post :)) also dont pay attention to my theme ummm im not happy yet ! also i will mssg those i have big connections w/ to adjust them or get smth new !!

saskia has lived in san diego for four years, but before that she lived in san francisco - all about the sans -  with her mum and dad but no siblings (sometimes she wondered what life would be like if there was someone else around, but she never necessarily regrets that loss - can’t miss what you don’t have. not many of her friends had siblings, she was all about that only child vibe).

her dad was always p controlling growing up, but saskia just considered him to be strict n not much else - he wanted her to be the best of the best, n she started thinking that she could be, that she was, even if her insecurities ran deep as a result of all the pressure he put on her ! my poor bb but obvs all of that was buried as far as it could go so he wouldn’t see

she was fifteen when her dad thought it was time she knew about the family business, as she had known for a long time not to ask any questions about it - he was always so secretive and her mother would back him on anything, always putting her husband before her daughter. To say she was shocked to find out that her father was a drug dealer was an understatement, she would never have guessed it, having thought it was a job for people with less money than they had and individuals that had no other choice - not someone that would choose it. The fact of the matter was that her father was selling to other rich men that wanted to properly unwind after stressful days running big businesses - and he liked bringing saskia along. Even when she was younger she looked older, mature, so he’d make sure she got all dolled up and come to the swanky parties with him.

Things carried on that way for two years before it all caught up with him. Saskia was surprised he didn’t attempt to bring her down with him, but the trial was swift and he was given the maximum sentence as the officials wanted to make a show of being tough on white collar crime. At least that’s what Saskia was always told, for her mother decided she shouldn’t have the whole story, making it the only instance in her years of motherhood in which she tried to protect the girl.

What the blonde wasn’t told is that in a drug deal gone bad, in an effort to preserve his reputation and avoid getting ratted out by an unhappy client, he shot someone and they died. After the trial saskia’s mum left town with the money that they had left - all that she could grab - and saskia was left with social services, rehousing her as she had just turned 18. And with that, Saskia moved to San Diego.

Without the financial support she was used to, she had to get herself a job and work for everything she wanted, which has been a massive culture shock. While there was some money saved for her in an account, she’s wasted most of it furnishing her apartment and buying things to make herself feel better after losing both of her parents and her life in san fran. Her upbringing has had a big impact on who she is, torn between a sense of superiority and deep set insecurities, struggling to showcase her emotions after years of being told it was better to bottle it up rather than bothering people and showing a weakness that could be exploited.

Saskia likes to give off the impression that she’s a hardass because that’s what her dad wanted, but she’s scared more often than she’ll admit. She often lies or hints about things she’s done that she hasn’t, and enjoys the reputation she’s been building for herself - she believes that rumours often do more work than having to do the wild thing itself, and in conversation tends to act coy and refuse to give details so that people make assumptions about her life. For example, she’s only slept with two people but likes people to think she has slept with many more so that she might suggest she doesn’t form emotional attachments, is able to do as she pleases without repercussions.

While it was a dream that her father always discouraged, whilst in san diego saskia has let herself get into writing - something she always wanted to do.Having her tendency to fabricate she believes she’ll write great fiction, and her goal is to be published one day, even if at the moment it’s writing scraps while at work.

She can only be truly comfortable with a couple of people, more concerned about her reputation with the majority, and she tends to tailor things to the person she’s with so that the right persona will come across. Not even knowing the full story herself, she’s only told one person (her bffaeaeae) that her father is in prison and her mother abandoned her, not wanting that vulnerability to be public knowledge - she skirts around the topic if people ask about her family.

Before she moved to san diego four years ago she lived in san fran with her super controlling father and her pushover mother - her father had v high hopes n refused to accept anything less than exactly what he wanted, and her mother would never intervene. She’s now got deep set insecurities bc of her dad and her mum not wanting to do anything about it. Aged fifteen she found out what her secretive father did - selling drugs to rich old men that needed to relax after running the big biz !!

other bits and bobs

avid but secret doctor who fan bc why not

basically drug dealer princess but daddy is in prison so she needs a job bc all the money is gone !!! he left some to her but it ran out. also she doesn’t know that he killed someone she just thinks he got caught with drugs. it was a few years ago n nobody told her bc she was underage

not good with emotions n stuff bc her dad was always on at her to be a hardass and not let anyone get to u bc that’s when you’re weak

trying to be a writer n so does a bunch of wacky things to get inspo for her book bc the best writing supposedly comes from experience - thereby willing to try anything once

only slept with one person maybe two but likes having a reputation that she’s slept with more, always coy about it n hinting

she can be kooky n a bit wacky w/ people she’s comfortable with

some connection ideas

romantic

the one she lost her virginity to jameson the one(s) she thinks is attractive the one she says she sleeps with the one she dated wren the one she rebounded with after her first love (virginity person) jason the one she loves to hate and hates to love the one she flirts with the one she almost dated

platonic

the only one she trusts completely the one that’s just a colleague the one that helps her get through her shifts the one she lives with emmery the one she can talk books and writing with nico the one she drinks with the one she hates the one she’s rivals with the one she’s fake friends with karina the one she’s been friends with since she moved the one she goes crazy with the one she bothers the one that understands

bits of cass/saskia that are the same

her desire to do crazy things

her struggle to deal w/ relationships n stuff - her inexperience

some people thinking she’s sweet n underestimating her capacity to do some damage

the chaos of her growing up - now a bit more intense ha as it was an ever changing foster family n now it’s a drug dealing father and a mother that might as well have been called acquiesce

not entirely genuine, although it’s more of an intentional thing with saskia than it was with cass

so that’s saskia, this post is such a mess pls but hmu for things !!! basically for a v short summary she’s a little sarcastic thing that wants to be a hardass but isnt really even tho she likes to stir shit every now and then and will fabricate things to keep up a reputation bc her drug dealer dad was super strict n she’s gotten practice lying about things from him and after he was in prison bc she doesn’t like telling people

[remainingso]

Dead To Me

Ship: mostly one-sided Percy/Nico (there is no kissing but there is Tension and also there will be kissing in the next part 

Premise: An AU where Nico can see numbers that tell him when people will die! Also a continuation from this fic here (link opens to AO3) but you don’t have to read that one to understand this. Also Percabeth broke up sometime in here 

Summary: Nico’s been avoiding Percy for months since they both clawed their way back out of Tartarus. Jason decides to stage an intervention. 

[Read on AO3] 

Nico barely talks to Percy for a month after the whole mess with Gaea. He tells himself it’s because there’s no time, because Percy is busy doing who knows what to help Chiron out around camp and Nico himself mostly drifts from New Rome and back these days anyways, so there’s—there’s really not enough time to sit down and talk through any of this shit anyways.

Not that Nico wants to do much talking.

He wants to—well, jury’s still out on what exactly it is he wants, but it sure as hell isn’t talking.

If he’s honest with himself (and he is, sometimes, late at night when there’s no one else around to witness it), Nico has to admit that mostly he’s just mad.

It’s a familiar enough feeling, this strange, tired rage that sinks his stomach whenever the subject of Percy Jackson arises, but Nico has spent months trying to untangle his life from Percy’s and he doesn’t appreciate all that complication reaching out to ensnare him all over again.

So it’s easier to veer away from the campfire, now, quickly sidestep the training grounds, and settle up against a tree somewhere where there’s no chance of ever running into Percy Jackson.  

It’s something of a shock when Jason steps out of the trees instead.

Nico narrows his eyes. “If you’re here to drag me back to singing kumbaya with the other campers, you’re wasting your time.”

“Good thing I’m not here for that, then,” Jason says.

“Right. So you’re just here to admire the shrubbery then?”

Jason takes a step forward. The shadows fall over his face, making it look more sombre than Nico suspects he’d like it to be, but the next words that fall out of Jason’s mouth proves him wrong. “I wanted to talk to you,” Jason says. “It’s kind of important, so if you wouldn’t mind…”

The instinct to snap out something caustic and get the hell out of there claws its way up Nico’s throat, but he swallows hard. He’s been working on that, lately.

“Mind what?” he asks faintly instead.

Jason gestures behind him. “It might be easier if you come to my cabin.”

At that, Nico bursts out laughing. “Aren’t you afraid your girlfriend’s gonna find me lurking around your room at night?” 

“Ha, very funny,” Jason says, then rubs awkwardly at the back of his neck. “I just thought it might be easier without the threat of someone walking in, you know. Not that this—not that it’s serious or anything, but you work so hard to keep up your mysterious son of Hades, Ghost King thing, so I figured…” He gestures behind him again, a little helplessly, and dammit Jason is one of the only people earnest enough to make Nico’s prickly shield retreat, just a little.

“Shut up, Grace,” he says, but then he pushes off the tree. “Let’s go.”

Jason beams. Nico tries not to smile in return as they make their way towards the Zeus cabin.

Of course, all bets are off when the door swings open and there, standing right in the middle of Jason’s room, is Percy fucking Jackson 

If it weren’t so pathetic, Nico would’ve lunged for the door. Instead, he tenses and turns slowly to glare at Jason. “What’s going on?” he asks, almost wishing he was fighting literal monsters instead of just figurative ones.

“You two need to talk,” Jason says. “I’ll be waiting outside.”

Then the door is clicking shut, and Nico makes another slow turn, not sure where he can go. Dammit Grace, he thinks, you could at least put up some decorations in here.  

At last, when there’s nowhere else to turn, Nico looks Percy dead on.

The son of Poseidon looks pretty gobsmacked, himself. There’s a small pleasure in how hesitant Percy looks, his hands curling and uncurling at his sides, lips pursed in a strained frown. Nico stays silent, wanting to make him squirm.

Slowly, the strange shifting numbers that Nico always looks for when he sees Percy appear. They shuffle, rearrange themselves like floating dust, and Nico breathes a small sigh of relief when they stay. He hasn’t had a chance to get enough of a good look at Percy since… well since everything, but the time is still the same. It’s the same time it’s always been. It hasn’t changed, even if everything else has.

Percy Jackson still dies somewhere in his 80s (Nico has never bothered to count the years to any sort of exactness). The numbers remain pretty steadfast on that one 

The silence stretches between them, taut and tight. Nico doesn’t want to be the one to break it 

As it happens, Percy snaps first. 

“Am I… did I… do something wrong?” he asks, faltering. He starts to pace around the room, his footsteps landing heavily as his hands fidget uselessly at his sides. “Are you mad at me for something? Because I swear, whatever it is, I didn’t mean it and I’m really really sorry, but you’ve been just… weird ever since… since…” 

“Since you came back from hell?”

Percy’s mouth snaps shut.

The laugh rips out of Nico’s throat too loudly, but once that’s out, everything else tumblrs along with it. “I don’t know how you can be so peachy keen and ready to get back to your normal life or whatever it is you’re doing now, but I’m not so ready to forgive you just yet, Jackson,” he snaps.

“What was I supposed to do, Nico?” It’s the pure simplicity of that that makes Nico want to never ever talk to Percy ever again. It’s like there was never any option. As soon as he was teetering over that cliffside with Annabeth on one side and everyone else on the other, Percy’s mind was made. Breaking up hasn’t changed the conviction in Percy’s voice.

Nico drags a hand through his hair. “I don’t know,” he says, because there’s no arguing with that kind of logic.

“Then why…” Percy trails off, probably because then why are you still mad at me? is a question too stupid even for him.

“I wish I wasn’t,” Nico says through gritted teeth. “But I also wish you’d taken a moment to use your goddamn brain, Percy. Maybe thought of the rest of us instead of going ahead and doing your patented stupid self sacrificing bullshit.”

At that, Percy’s temper ignites. Some part of Nico thinks, finally. He takes three steps forward, until he’s leaning over Nico, eyes raging like the sea. “I had no choice,” he growls.

“You did,” Nico counters. “You always have a choice.”

“Well maybe I did!” Percy explodes, stalking closer and closer. “But I couldn’t—I never would’ve let Annabeth fall, and just because you can just write people off as dead doesn’t mean that I can!” He slams a hand down on the doorframe, and Nico wonders if he knows how predatory he comes off, now, how dangerous, how easy it all seems.

Perhaps this is what Tartarus does to you, too. Nico feels his own simmering anger, beating like a pulse under his skin. He tilts his chin up and refuses to cringe back. “Is that what you think I wanted?”

“It sure sounds like it is,” Percy snaps.

“Well, it’s not.”

“Then what do you want? What did I mess up this time? You might as well yell at me so we can both get it over with.”

“Your numbers disappeared,” Nico finally says. He closes his eyes, pushing away the frenzy he remembers from that terrifying moment where he look at Percy and saw nothing. Nothing but the blank darkness of Tartarus. “I couldn’t see them anymore. I knew you were going to let go before you actually did, you asshole.”

Suddenly, Percy looks very tired. He doesn’t back off, but he does sag a little, and Nico is suddenly aware of how that brings his face just that much closer.

“I… I didn’t know that,” Percy says, his breath blowing across Nico’s cheek. He looks fucking shattered.

“Yeah,” Nico bites out. “Of course you didn’t.”

“So you didn’t know?”

Nico laughs again, a little breathlessly. “No,” he says. “I had no goddamn clue if you’d ever manage to drag your ass back out when I let you go.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Percy furrows his brow, and, well, this close, Nico can see the sweep of his eyelashes when he blinks in confusion and it makes him want to die a little, right now, numbers be screwed.

“I just thought…,” Percy trails off, frowning harder. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“Mostly so this didn’t happen,” Nico says, but it’s missing most of his usual barb. He wants to shrug and lean away, but Percy’s arm is still on the doorframe and there’s not much room to lean into.

Then, they’re both all too aware of how close Percy is, how edged in Nico is. It’s all a mess, really, and Nico wants nothing more than to melt into the shadows, if there were any lurking around.

Percy swallows, hard, the line of his throat tight as his Adam’s apple bobs. He works his jaw as if he wants to say something, and Nico is desperately certain that he doesn’t want to hear it. It would be easy enough for Nico to tilt his face up, now, grab Percy and—and what?

(And, see, Nico doesn’t really know what went down with him and Annabeth, and he doesn’t really want to know in particular, but it’s impossible not to think about that now.)

So he blurts, “They’re back now, though. I can see your numbers again,” and winces because that was absolutely not the right thing to say.

Instantly, Percy jerks back, the numbers flickering by his face following. “Don’t tell me!” he shouts. 

“What?”

“I mean. That’s good. I’m glad. I don’t want to, er, worry you,” Percy says awkwardly, back peddling so back Nico’s head spins. “Just—don’t tell me what they say?”

Nico snorts. “You die tomorrow, Jackson. Better go get your will straightened out.”

“Just for that, I’m not leaving you anything,” Percy says, finally not panicking anymore. He settles, standing a comfortable distance away from Nico, and Nico hates himself a little bit for wanting him to come back a little closer.

“Like I ever wanted anything of yours, Jackson,” Nico says, then has to laugh at himself.

Percy looks at him with this funny little tilt to his head, as if he’s trying to figure Nico out. There’s nothing hostile about him anymore, a far cry from the instant stormy rage earlier, but the thread of tension is still taut between them. Nico wonders if it’ll ever go away.

“I am sorry,” Percy finally says.

“For what?” Nico asks, not wanting to let him off the hook this easy.

“For everything, I guess,” Percy mutters. “For not really getting it. I gotta be honest, I don’t think I ever will get what it’s like to be you.”

“Well, halle-fucking-lujah for that.”

“I still am sorry, though,” Percy says, and it’s so damn sincere that Nico feels the tension bunching up his shoulders ease up a little. “You were right. I wasn’t thinking of much then, and I guess… it’s something I have to work on, okay?”

“I guess I could’ve told you about the numbers earlier.”

Percy grins again, wide and relieved. “Damn right you could’ve, di Angelo.”

“Just don’t—don’t do that again,” Nico manages. “I don’t like. Not knowing.”

“Oh gods forbid the terrifying son of Hades deal with death like a normal person.”

Nico snorts and doesn’t dignify that with a response. Instead, he eases himself off the door and grabs the handle.

“Are you going to stop ignoring me now?” Percy calls when he’s halfway out the door.

A smile works its way onto Nico’s face before he can help it. The last thread of tension loosens, uncurls, and Nico feels like he can finally breathe after months of suffocating. “Maybe if you’re lucky,” he calls back, then he slams the door behind him and walks away in the shadows. Before he leaves, he makes sure to flip Jason off.

[gatesofember]

Meadows of the Sea: Chapter 4

PJO Arranged Marriage/Royalty AU Part 7

Rating: M | Pairing: Percabeth, Jiper, Solangelo

Prev | Next | AU directory | Read it on AO3 (Recommended) | Arranged Marriage AU Masterpage

Summary: Prince Percy couldn’t be happier. After years of waiting, he is finally marrying the friend and lover he has been betrothed to since childhood. Prince Nico invites his fiancé to accompany him to the wedding, where he can’t help but dream about his own pending marriage. Prince Jason, who has been unable to secure a new engagement after Reyna’s rejection, may finally find the right woman to make his empress.

Piper had expected a lecture from her mother when she returned to their rooms with the front of her dress covered in chocolate after the masked ball.  She was almost looking forward to it, in fact.

Aphrodite expected Piper to conduct herself with ‘the proper poise of a young lady,’ but making a mess of her gown wouldn’t stop Piper from getting her chocolate.  If she was going to end up married to the man, then he ought to know exactly what he was getting. Harmless scams?  Piper could fake her way through those with the elegance of the ideal young lady her mother wanted her to be.  But when it came to marriage and chocolate, Piper wasn’t going to play games.

Well, she’d play games.  Just in a fun way.

To Piper’s disappointment, Aphrodite hadn’t looked surprised by the state of Piper’s gown.  She hadn’t even looked bothered by it.  Nor had she appeared bothered when Piper told her that she had left it up to Jason to decide whether they would meet again.  “There was a reason I decided to send you after the Prince and not one of your sisters,” Aphrodite had explained.  “They could certainly draw his eye, but you are the only one who has the impulsive, daring, and charming spirit required to turn all of his attention to you and then keep it on you.  I trust you to decide how to ensnare the Prince.”

Now, despite her mother’s confidence, Piper was standing alone at the ball feeling miserable and looking tragically gorgeous in her canary yellow gown.  She wondered if Jason would even show up.  She almost regretted the way she’d ended their meeting the day before, but she knew that she had done the right thing.  Their second meeting had to be on Jason’s terms.  To put them on even footing, Piper had to sacrifice having the upper hand.  She refused to be just another person manipulating the Prince.

Piper stared forlornly into her cup of chocolate as she went over everything the planned to say if Jason showed up.  Never before had she felt so nervous or hopeless that chocolate failed to cheer her up.

While she was wallowing in self-pity, she hardly noticed Percy approach her.  “Evening, Piper,” Percy greeted.  “Are you enjoying yourself?”

“I’m...” Piper started, about to honestly answer that she’d had better days, but she looked up and noticed that Percy was accompanied by Prince Jason.  When he shyly smiled at her, Piper noticed with surprise that he wore spectacles.  It was strangely cute; his entire face was impeccably sculpted, but the spectacles acted like a single piece of evidence to show that he wasn’t completely flawless.

“My friend asked me to introduce the two of you,” Percy said when Piper couldn’t find the words to answer his question.  “I present Prince Jason of Jupiter.  Jason, this is my good friend, Piper of Venus.”

“It’s a pleasure to properly meet you,” Jason said kindly.

“It...yes,” Piper agreed, trying to keep herself from exploding in an outburst of joy.  “I’m glad that you...uh...I’m glad that....”

Percy looked back and forth between the two with a wide grin.  “Well, I have a few more people to visit, so I suppose I’ll be on my way!” he said cheerfully.  He winked at Piper and patted Jason’s shoulder before escaping to cause trouble elsewhere.

After opening and closing her mouth a few times like a speechless fish, Piper finally managed to speak.  “I didn’t know if you would want to see me again.”

“Neither did I,” replied Jason.  “Percy said that he got along with you, so I decided to try.  And I appreciate that you were honest with me about knowing my identity last night.”

“Honesty is the best way to begin a relationship,” Piper said, remembering the speech she’d rehearsed in the event that Jason decided to meet.  “Which is why I would like to be honest with you again, if I may?”

Jason nodded and gestured for her to speak, so Piper took a deep breath and gathered her courage.  “Last night, my mother sent me to seduce you into marrying me,” Piper said.  “I understand that it is not the first time something like this has happened to you.”

Jason’s expression was enough to confirm that.

“I do not wish to take advantage of you, Your Highness,” Piper went on.  “I wanted to tell you this so that we are on even ground.  If I have displeased you, I will be on my way.”

“I certainly would not claim to be pleased to hear that,” Jason said.  “But it doesn’t surprise me; I suspected as much.  I decided to meet you again tonight because despite that, I felt that you were honest with me.  And...I enjoyed spending the evening with you yesterday.  Besides, we couldn’t claim to know each other after one evening, could we?”

“No, Your Highness.  I do not wish to be a pawn any more than you do, I suspect—although I admit that my goals aligned with my mother’s on this occasion.”

Jason smiled and blushed a bit, which gave Piper more confidence.  It meant that a bit of flirting wasn’t completely out of the question.

“Mine might align, as well,” Jason admitted.  “I’d like to see where this goes.  We’ll try spending the rest of the evening together.  At the end of the night, if we do not wish to continue each other, we will part ways and that will be the end of it.  If we do, however, we can discuss what we would like to do going forward.  What do you say to that?”

Piper nodded in agreement.  “I was hoping for that answer, to be honest,” she said.  “I think we ought to take this time get to know each other.  I want to have a happy marriage. A happy marriage does not begin with deception.”

“Then we are clear on one thing: both of us are interested in marriage,” Jason said.  “That is our intention, correct?”

“That is correct,” Piper confirmed.

“I must make this clear: while my input will be considered, I don’t have the authority to choose my partner on my own,” Jason said.

“I think I will meet the Imperial Court’s requirements,” Piper said confidently.  “Anyway, my mother can be very convincing.  I do not believe we have to worry about that.”

Jason smiled at her briefly, but said, “Nonetheless, I cannot make promises at the time.  I am the only representative of the Imperial Court present in Salacia.  My sister Athena was supposed to be here, but she has not yet arrived.  If she comes, and if she approves of this match, then I believe her report would be enough for the rest of the Court to allow it.”

“Then all that’s left is for us to decide whether or not this is something we would like to pursue.”

Jason nodded, suddenly looking a bit lost.  “I’ve never conducted a first consultation like this on my own,” he admitted.  “Would you like to dance?”

Piper examined the hand Jason had offered and noticed a barely perceptible nervous tremor.  Aphrodite had warned her about Jason’s lack of independence, so his awkwardness was unsurprising.  Piper would have to take the lead at first to show him how to have an effective and enjoyable first consultation.  “Would you like to dance?” she asked in return, raising a challenging eyebrow.

Jason looked like the question had caught him off guard.  His outstretched hand balled into a fist and dropped to his side.  “I...no.”

Piper nodded in approval.  He was honest when pushed; that was a good start, at least.  “Then what would you like to do?”

“Talk to you,” Jason answered.  “Outside, perhaps?  Away from the crowds.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Piper said with an encouraging smile.  She got to her feet and took Jason’s arm.  “Let’s go to the terrace.  The view is beautiful.”

On their way, Piper stopped to pick up two fresh cups of chocolate, which warmed her to her toes when they stepped outside and felt the cool evening air.  They stood with their elbows on the railing, looking over the Prata Pontonia.  After a moment of silence, Jason admitted, “I...I don’t know what to talk about.”  He offered Piper a sheepish smile that was so endearing it made her want to hug him.

“Marriage consultations are always a bit awkward in the beginning,” she said instead.  “Don’t worry; if it works out, it’ll get easier the longer we talk. We’ll start with basic questions, like...what is your favorite season?”

Jason’s head tilted to the side just slightly, which made Piper want to hug him again.  “Is this important to determine our compatibility?” he asked.

“No,” Piper said.  “This is important because it will help establish our compatibility.  A consultation isn’t merely a test to see if our goals and priorities align; it’s a way for us to learn about each other to start to build a relationship.  Preferences of no consequence may seem unimportant, but knowing little details helps you feel close to a person.”

Jason blinked.  “I hadn’t considered that,” he said.  “Then I think I would have to say...summer.”

“I also like summer,” Piper said.  “Now you must ask me a question.”

“What is your favorite type of food?” Jason asked.

Piper grinned and took a sip from her cup.  “Guess.”

Laughing, Jason replied, “Chocolate?”

“That is a drink, not a food.  But yes, chocolate is the most delightful substance ever to be known to humankind.  I daresay is the beverage of the gods.”

Jason’s favorite color was purple, Piper’s favorite dance was the canarie.  When Jason asked about her home, Piper talked about Venus and its beauty, about the busy city and the quiet, colorful forest.  She mentioned the spot not for from Aphrodite’s chateaux where she liked to spend her spare time, where a steady stream of water trickled down black island rocks into a cool, clear lake.  She told him about the view from her bedroom window, where she could see the island of Bacchus in the distance on clear days.  Piper talked so much that she forgot about the cup of chocolate in her hands, and the next time she took a sip, it was cold.

When she asked Jason about his favorite parts of Olympus, he looked like the question had caught him off guard.  Eventually, he said his favorite part of the city was its sky.  “The palace is built into the side of the mountain.  My quarters are on the highest floor, at the end of the east wing.  There’s a ledge outside my window, large enough for me to sit on, and I sometimes like to go out there and look at the clouds or the stars, or watch the sun set behind the west wing.  There’s a small window in one of the alcoves in the library that opens over the roof of the dining hall.  I like to read there.  It’s quiet except for the wind, and at night there’s enough light from either the moon or the inside of the library.  Sometimes I just lie there to look at the sky when I don’t want to be found.”

“That sounds beautiful,” Piper said.  “The sky must be amazing that high up.”

“It is,” Jason answered.  “If we marry, I can show you the best spots to view the sunset.”

Piper smiled.  “I’d like that.”

Jason smiled back, but blushed and looked away.  Clearing his throat, Jason changed the subject.  “Tell me about your mother,” he said.

“My mother is really quite clever,” Piper said.  “She knows how people work and what they want, and she knows how to use that to manipulate them into doing what she wants.  Still, she is not heartless.  Vain, yes.  But she cares about others very much.  That is why the people of Venus are so happy.”

“And do you mind if I ask about your father?”

“He is a Nereid,” Piper answered.  “I write to him and we meet every so often.  He was not allowed to marry my mother—his family wanted him to marry another Nereid.  It wouldn’t have been a good match anyway.  I am a legal child of my mother, however.  She never married, but she took the steps to make all of my siblings legitimate.  What about your mother?”

“My birth mother?” Jason asked.  “She was a courtesan of the Emperor.  I never knew her. What about your siblings?”

Piper noticed Jason’s quick change in topic, but did not question it.  She noted to herself that it seemed Jason’s birth mother was a sore topic.

Piper told him about Mitchell and Lacy, the most kind-hearted of her brothers and sisters.  She didn’t spend much time on Drew, her surviving older sister, but spent a full minute talking about Valentina, the youngest, before telling him about the rest of her sisters and brothers.  She must have lost Jason at some point, because he looked confused.

“Wait a moment.  How many siblings do you have?”

“Eleven living,” Piper answered.  “And will you tell me about your sisters?”

Piper had already heard of Athena and Thalia, of course, but only in rumors.  Jason’s eyes looked brighter when he talked about Thalia, but his expression grew dull on the subject of Athena.

The doors to the hall opened and a large group entered the balcony, laughing loudly and carrying one or two glasses of wine each.  When the noise didn’t subside, Piper suggested a walk and they explored the terraces around the palace.  They abandoned their cups of chocolate, which had become too cold to enjoy, and instead linked their arms together to steal each other’s warmth as they walked.

Piper told him about the time she had sneaked out to board a fishing vessel and learned how to sail.  Jason explained that he loved reading because he always felt like words on a page were able to captivate his entire being and drag him away from the world.  When Piper mentioned that she liked to sing, Jason requested a song.  She sang one that her father had taught her when she visited him as a child; a traditional Nereid song with an odd, syncopated beat that had always entranced her.

Piper led Jason to the front of the palace.  She sat on the ledge at the top of the Grand Cascade and invited him to sit by her.  The air was cool and a light misty sprinkle hit their backs as the fountain sprayed water, but the heat of Jason’s body beside hers was enough to make her feel warm.  The lights from the palace were so bright that it was difficult to see the stars, but Piper was able to find a few constellations.  She leaned back to watch the stars and accidentally put her hand on top of Jason’s, but neither of them moved away from the touch.

“What do you value most in a friend?” Piper asked after they’d been talking for a while.

“Trustworthiness, I suppose,” Jason answered, then he looked conflicted.  “Or maybe...honesty.  I think what I find the most valuable in a friend is how safe I feel around them.  What about you?”

“I like friends who are a bit adventurous,” Piper said.  “It’s important for me to feel comfortable being open with them, so I feel like I need friends who are able to adapt and have fun and accept me when I’m not perfect.  I don’t want to constantly pretend to be someone I’m not.  I do that enough already.”  She paused and looked away from the sky to face Jason.  “I think that you and I are a bit alike in that way,” Piper went on.  “We both have to pretend to be perfect all the time.  We both want a bit of relief.”

“You don’t seem perfect,” Jason said, and then he blushed.  “That wasn’t what I meant to say.”

Piper laughed.  “Then what did you mean?”

“I meant that you seem genuine.  You don’t appear to be pretending.  It doesn’t seem that you are acting a certain way to get my attention or my favor.”

“Not with you, no.  I approached you with the goal of marriage in mind.  I don’t want to be in a relationship with someone I must constantly lie to.  You ought to know exactly who I am before you decide whether to marry me.”

Jason looked at his hands and quietly said, “I think I like ‘exactly who you are.’”

Suitors didn’t catch Piper off guard very often.  She was usually immune to flattery, but something about the shy expression on Jason’s face made Piper feel like she was just a little bit special.

Suddenly, Jason said, “On the subject of friendships, I am on good terms with my former fiancée.  Does that bother you?”

“Why would that bother me?” Piper asked, genuinely confused by the question.

Jason sighed.  “If we are speaking honestly, the Empress can be very jealous and I know that the Emperor’s affairs hurt her.  I don’t want you to be hurt or to lose my friendship with Reyna.”

“Oh, I see,” said Piper, remembering all the nasty things her mother had to say about the Empress.  “Well, I would not be hurt by you having a friend.  Besides, I have also courted before.  We both have our pasts.”

“And have you had any serious suitors?” Jason asked.

“I have had a few brief affairs, but sometimes, there are differences between a person you would court and a person you would marry,” Piper said.  “I haven’t courted someone whom I felt I could be serious with.”

“And what do you want in a marriage partner?”

“I want to marry someone kind and open with their feelings.  Someone I can talk to.  Someone exciting, but serious.  And what about you?”

“I want someone who I can trust, has a good heart, and is strong enough to not let Hera beat them down.”

“I think I can take her,” Piper joked, making a motion like she was preparing to fight.

“I think you can, too,” Jason said with a quiet laugh.  “Actually, I would very much like to see that.”

“I get the feeling that you will,” Piper said, because it seemed unlikely that she would get along with the Empress.  Then she blushed when she realized her answer sounded like she’d already decided to pack her belongings and move to Olympus.  “Do you want to be married, Your Highness?” she asked to cover her embarrassment.

“Yes, very much,” Jason said.  “I believe that I’m ready to commit my life to someone.  Now I must simply find the one to commit to.  Do you want to be married?”

“Of course.  I’d like to settle down, fall in love with someone, and spend the rest of my life with them.”

“And do you think you could fall in love with me?” Jason asked quietly.

Piper looked over and saw that he was blushing and focusing on his hands again.  “I think so,” she replied.  “Do you?”

Jason raised his eyes to meet hers.  “Yes.”

Piper wondered if it would be out of place to kiss him.  Kisses didn’t usually happen on the first consultation, but her mother always told her to do it when the timing felt right.  And at that moment, something about the timing felt right.

She leaned forward, watching Jason’s reaction before she went any further.  His eyes flickered to her lips.  He didn’t lean closer, but he didn’t lean away, either.

“Your Highness?” Piper asked.

“I wouldn’t mind if you called me ‘Jason,’” he said.

“Then...Jason?  Would you like to kiss me?”

Jason looked surprised, then hesitant, then embarrassed.  “I’ve never...” he started, then blushed and turned his eyes away.

“Never kissed anyone?” Piper asked.

Jason shook his head.  Piper was surprised; Jason had been engaged to Reyna for years before she joined the Sorority.  “Not even Reyna?” she asked.

He shook his head again.  “We never had that sort of relationship.”

“I see,” Piper said slowly, her heart clenching at the thought of how adorably innocent the Prince must be.  It made her want to kiss him even more, and maybe do a few things to dirty his virtue a bit.  She scooter closer and asked, “Would you like to try?”

Jason’s eyes flickered to her lips.  “I still can’t promise that I’ll be allowed to marry you.”

“That’s alright,” she said.  “A kiss doesn’t have to be a promise.  If you want to kiss me, you should do it.”

“I do want to kiss you,” Jason said, his voice soft and barely audible over the sound of water spraying in the Grand Cascade.  He looked up and met her eyes.  He seemed uncertain and nervous, but something in his expression became calm when she squeezed his hand.  Moving a bit closer, he reached out hesitantly and cupped the back of her head with a delicate touch, like he was afraid of breaking her.  “If you’re certain that it won’t hurt anyone, then....”

“You would have to be a spectacularly bad kisser for it to hurt,” Piper said, which got Jason to smile.  “The entire point of kissing is that it feels nice.”

Jason laughed a little, but more importantly, some of the tension in his body disappeared.  “Alright,” he said.  “After all, it might help us build our relationship.”

“Exactly,” Piper replied.  Their faces were so close that their noses almost touched.  “Physical affection helps bring people together.”

“Then, if you insist...” Jason whispered, but although the side of his nose touched hers, he did not kiss her.  Piper waited a second longer before realizing that he wanted her to take the final step and close the gap between them.

Piper moved incrementally closer and let her lips brush over his, barely enough for it to be considered a kiss.  He returned the gesture, like he’d been waiting for her to show him what to do.  Piper’s second kiss had a bit more pressure behind it and held the contact a fraction of a second longer, and she smiled against Jason’s lips when he did the same back to her.

“You’re doing nicely, Jason,” Piper said.  “It is imperative that I marry a good kisser.”

Jason laughed sheepishly.  His breath tickled her lips.  “Then I suppose I’ll have to improve.”

“I have no problem helping you learn,” Piper.  “Shall we continue our lessons?”

That time, Jason initiated.  His kiss was too long, too firm, and a bit clumsy, but Piper kissed him back to show him what to do.  She taught him how to give light, gentle kisses first, then kisses that were deeper but still chaste.  He responded eagerly but with restraint, like he’d been starved for affection for so long that he wasn’t quite sure what he ought to do.  They broke apart a few times to exchange a couple of brief words or to giggle nervously, but the more she kissed him, the more confidence he seemed to gain.

An interruption came in the form of the mischievous bride and groom, whose tireless energy had led them to seek a private spot to desecrate the palace’s walls.  There was an awkward moment when Percy and Annabeth realized that another couple was already occupying the space and Piper and Jason realized exactly what Percy and Annabeth had planned to do.  Then Percy and Annabeth got the signature suspicious glint in their eyes that always meant trouble.

“What are you doing out here?” Percy asked with a grin.

“We were talking,” Jason said.  It was true, but Piper had intended to do some more kissing, as well.  “It was getting loud on the terrace, so we went looking for a more quiet spot,” he added, which sounded much more incriminating.  His face was certainly red enough to provide sufficient evidence for their conviction.

Percy and Annabeth exchanged a look.  “‘Quiet spot,’” Annabeth repeated.  “I see.  Percy and I were also looking for a ‘quiet spot.’”

Both Jason and Piper blushed at the implication.  Although Piper supported her friends’ relationship, they’d been together for so long that they were quite comfortable giving away too many details about their private activities.

“Come on,” Annabeth said, waving Piper and Jason over.  “It’s getting cold.  I know a place inside that won’t be occupied tonight.”

Piper should have known that Annabeth was plotting.  Annabeth was always plotting.  But she looked so sincere that Piper and Jason stood up and followed her into the palace, straight into the suite of private apartments where she and Percy lived now that they were married, and they allowed themselves to be ushered into a private room with a dark fireplace, a few plush chairs, and a tall set of windows.

Piper turned around to escape, but Annabeth and Percy were blocking the exit, looking very proud of themselves for having forced their friends into a room together.  “Percy and I will come back to check on you later,” Annabeth said.  “Should you require it, my bedroom will be empty tonight and I would be happy to loan it to you.  Enjoy your evening together!”

Percy leaned closer to whisper in Piper’s ear.  “There’s no pressure, but I can assure you that Jason’s clothes are hiding some very nice amenities.”

Piper blushed and Jason looked mortified, but Piper couldn’t deny that she was a bit interested in investigating those ‘amenities’ for herself.  Without offering them an opportunity to reply, Percy and Annabeth closed the door, clicked the lock, and left Piper and Jason alone in the room.

Piper turned around to look at Jason, hoping that she didn’t look too interested by what Percy had said.  She noticed his hands trembling.  “They like to tease, but they’ll let us go,” she said.

Jason looked confused.  “What...?”

“If you want to, we can leave.  You seem hesitant.”

Jason blinked.  “I’m not hesitant.”

“I can tell you’re nervous,” Piper said.  “You barely had your first kiss; you can’t be comfortable with being locked alone in a room with a woman.”

Jason shifted his weight awkwardly, but didn’t say anything.  Piper looked him up and down, trying to read his body language.  “Unless...you’re alright with being alone with me?” she asked.

Jason’s blush had begun to cool, but he turned red again.  “I...well.  I don’t mind.  We were already alone together before.  Now we’re just...locked up and alone together.”

“Right,” Piper agreed, but the discomfort between them was still palpable.  She would have to remember to get revenge on Percy and Annabeth somehow.  She and Jason had been getting along perfectly well before they’d decided to meddle.

Piper was so caught up in her plan for vengeance that she almost missed it when Jason spoke up.  “I was hoping you would continue to teach me,” he said.

“Teach?” Piper asked.

Jason gestured between them vaguely.  “The...um...kissing.  I would like it if you’d continue.”

“Oh,” Piper said in surprise.  She tried to contain her enthusiasm about the idea.  Her mother wanted her to seduce Jason, but Piper had promised herself that she would court him honestly.  “I’m not trying to seduce you into wanting to marry me,” she said slowly, mostly to remind herself.

Jason shuffled his feet.  “Yes.  Well.  It’s a bit too late.”

Piper tried to reply, but she didn’t know what to say.  “Then you want to do more?” she eventually managed to ask.

“More?”

“Kissing.”

“Oh.  Yes, I would.  Of course, I’d also like to continue talking to you.  I....” Jason sighed and shook his head.  “I did warn you; I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Piper wet her lips and stepped closer.  “You may touch if you would like,” she said in a quiet voice that she hoped still sounded confident.

“Touch...” Jason repeated.  “Touch how?”

“Allow me to show you.”  Piper’s fingers slid down Jason's arms until she had her hands on his.  She placed his hands on either side of her waist and held them there, then smiled at him.  “There,” she said.  “Do you like that?”

Jason swallowed and nodded.

“Good,” Piper said.  She let go and reached up to cup his jaw, but Jason’s hands shook and fell away.  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing,” he answered, too quickly.

“Why did you let go?”

“I didn’t mean to.”

“Do you want to stop?”

“No.”

“Did you not like it?”

“I liked it.  I just...can you show me again?”

Still confused, Piper took Jason’s hands and put them back on her waist.  “Like this?”

Jason nodded.  “Yes, thank you.  I...I’m nervous.”

“Why are you nervous?” Piper asked.

“I’ve never done anything like this before,” he answered.  “Nothing.  At all.”

“Exactly how innocent are you?” Piper blurted out before she could stop herself.  “Do you even know what a naked woman looks like?”

Instead of reddening, his face went pale.  “I saw one.  Once.  It was the worst moment of my life.”

Piper laughed and had to let go of Jason’s hands.  It seemed that there weren’t going to be more kisses any time soon.  “Was she that ugly?” Piper asked.

Jason shook his head.  “No, she was fairly attractive.  But...she was one of my father’s courtesans.”

Piper pursed her lips together to stop herself from laughing again.  “Ah.  I can see why that might make you uncomfortable.”

Sighing, Jason turned his head to avoid her eyes.  “That’s not the worst of it.  The reason I saw her naked was that my father had...scheduled an appointment for me.”

“No!” Piper gasped.  “You don’t mean—”

Jason grimaced.  “I think you know exactly what I mean.”

Piper couldn’t restrain herself.  She laughed so hard that she had to take a seat in one of the plush armchairs in front of the cold fireplace.  “My gods, with his own courtesan?  Didn’t it cross his mind that it’s a bit odd to share a courtesan with your own son?”

Jason took the seat next to hers and said, “Apparently not.”

“You must tell me what happened.”

Jason rubbed his temple.  “My father thought it was best to provide me with a bit of experience to ensure I knew how I was to go about producing an heir.  I was sent to a private room, where I was greeted by a naked courtesan who told me that she had been assigned to educate me in bedroom activities.”

“And then?”

“What do you expect?” Jason said with a frown.  “I fled.”

“Just ran straight out?” Piper asked.  “Didn’t even politely turn her down?”

Jason shrugged and leaned back in his chair like the story had exhausted him.  “I didn’t know what else to do.”

“That’s reasonable,” Piper said.  “So while we’re on the topic of procuring heirs, do you want to have a large family?”

“I would like my children to have siblings, yes,” he said.  “Athena and I have never been close and Thalia left in her adolescent years, so I have an idea of what it’s like to be alone.  I don’t want that for my children.  What about you?”

“I love having so many siblings, so I want lots of children,” Piper answered.  “Next question is your turn.”

Jason thought for a moment.  “If you could have any wish fulfilled right now, what would it be?”

“I wish to have a hot cup of chocolate,” Piper answered without hesitation.  She and Jason both laughed until she asked, “What about you?  If you could have any wish fulfilled right now, what would it be?”

“To kiss you.”

His answer took Piper off guard.  She hadn’t expected Jason to be ready for kissing so soon after reliving the trauma of being propositioned by one of his father’s courtesans.  Her surprise must have shown on her face, because Jason blushed and said, “If you’d like to try it again, I mean.”

Piper smiled.  “Yes,” she said.  “I’d like that.”

*   *   *

Nico was having a miserable day.  It had gotten better during the fencing competition when he successfully vanquished Jason and collected multiple kisses from his fiancé, but soured when Jason’s sister managed to barely win against Reyna in the women’s tournament.  Nico thought that it was merely a bad stroke of luck, but the tournament did not allow for rematches between competitors, so he was unable to prove his adviser’s superiority.

Soon after the tournament, the belated horror of his actions settled in.  The excitement of the competition had led him to ask his fiancé for multiple public kisses—behavior that was completely unacceptable for someone of his status.  He was so embarrassed that he could hardly look Will in the eye.  What made it even worse was the undeniable truth that Nico had enjoyed every single one of those scandalous kisses.

Nico was almost glad when Will left him alone at their private table to request their plates.  Several rooms had been set apart for dining at that evening’s ball.  They’d managed to find a table before they all filled up.

Nico’s eyes drifted to Will’s breeches as he walked away.  What would Will’s bare legs look like?  Surely they would be attractive.  They would be nice to touch, as well—

Nico flushed and berated himself for thinking of such things.  He was not a barbarian like Percy.  He would wait until his wedding night like a respectable young man was supposed to.

As if summoned by Nico’s thoughts, Percy suddenly appeared and plopped into the seat next to Nico’s.  “Hello, Nico!” he said.  “Are you enjoying yourself?”

Nico scowled in annoyance and refused to look at Percy, partly because he was annoyed that Percy had joined him without an invitation and partly because he was busy looking at Will’s retreating figure.  “Prince Nico,” he corrected.

Percy ignored him.  “I noticed you and your fiancé come in a moment ago,” he went on.  “Won’t you introduce me to him?  I’d love to get to know your future consort.”

Nico wished he could turn Percy down, but he knew that wasn’t possible.  “Where is your wife?” he asked instead of answering directly.

“She’s visiting with a few friends, so I thought I’d do the same,” Percy replied.

Nico hoped that Percy wasn’t trying to imply that he and Nico were friends.

“Anyway, I wanted to thank you for coming to the ceremony this morning,” Percy said.  “I liked having you there.”

What a ridiculous lie.  Nico’s presence at the bathing ceremony had been completely pointless.  If anything, Nico had made a mess of it; Reyna had already lectured him about calling Percy a ‘heathen.’  Nico didn’t remember saying it, but Percy must have deserved it.  Still, it hadn't been very appropriate.

“You never did tell me much about your fiancé this morning,” Percy continued.  “I hear he’s a consor and the son of the Duke of Diana, is that correct?”

“Yes,” Nico replied shortly.

“Between us, I think clever people make the best spouses,” Percy said.  “You and I have similar taste.”

“I suppose,” Nico mumbled.

Percy grinned and leaned forward.  In a quieter voice, he said, “We also seem to share a weakness for blondes.”

Nico flushed, but refused to acknowledge his admiration of Will’s hair.

“You seem awfully fond of him,” Percy said annoyingly.  “I noticed all those little ‘victory kisses’ that you kept stealing earlier.  I can’t believe that your chaperone had to instate a kissing quota!”

Nico bristled.  He turned to snap at Percy, but the moment he caught sight of Percy’s face, he recalled seeing him naked that morning.  Thoughts of Percy naked once again led to him imagining Will naked, then a few obscene ideas about things he could do to Will’s naked body crossed his mind.

Nico shivered—but with disgust or arousal?  He could not tell.  The thought of Will naked was undeniably enticing....

Furious with himself, Nico shut down those thoughts as quickly as possible.  He would keep his mind free of such impurities.  He could think highly of Will, but his thoughts must remain decent.

And private.  There was no reason for Percy or anyone else to be aware of his feelings for Will.  At the very least, Nico should not be the subject of teasing or gossip.  He was a prince and he would conduct himself with the proper poise and etiquette befitting someone of his status.

Except he hadn’t been conducting himself very appropriately around Will lately.  The excitement of leaving Pluto for the first time had swept away Nico’s sense of propriety and his attraction to Will had caused him to behave indecently, demanding multiple public kisses and sneaking away from his chaperones whenever the opportunity arose.  Of course he was the subject of gossip!  Reyna had given him multiple warnings and scolded him for his behavior, but Nico had been too caught up in his feelings to listen.  And where had that led?  To his current obsession with seeing Will undressed.

That could not continue.  There was a proper distance to be maintained between royalty and non-royalty.  Nico liked Will and wished to be friendly with him, but there were limits.  Perhaps they could behave differently in private after they married, but for the time being, Nico could not allow it.

Percy babbled for a few more minutes before Will returned with drinks for himself and Nico.  “Good evening, Your Highness,” he said when he saw Percy.  He bowed in greeting after setting the drinks down.  “Congratulations on your marriage.  I did not realize you would be joining us.  Shall I ask for another plate to be brought out?”

“No, I’ll leave the two of you to eat alone,” Percy replied, which relieved Nico.  “And you may use my given name; no one calls me ‘Your Highness.’”

Nico did not like the idea of Will using Percy’s given name.  If it wasn’t appropriate for Will to use Nico’s given name yet, then Will certainly wasn’t close enough to Percy to use his.

“Then it is an honor to meet you, Prince Percy,” Will said.

Nico inwardly scowled, but reminded himself to wait until their wedding to give Will permission to call him ‘Nico.’  He had been far too brazen with Will lately.  That could not be allowed to continue.

“Nico is so fond of you,” Percy added.  “You are fortunate to have a fiancé who cares for you so much.”

Will blushed and glanced at Nico, who sank into his chair and wished the ground would swallow him whole.  “I care for him very much, as well,” Will said.

Percy looked fiendishly delighted at Will’s reply.  Nico would have been overjoyed to hear Will’s response if it had been in private, but in public he was embarrassed.

Nico praised the Morai when Percy left them, happy to be alone with his fiancé (and his chaperone an appropriate distance away) again.  Will looked so happy to see him that Nico almost forgot why he’d been upset in the first place.

Almost.  He was still so angry with himself that he remained mostly quiet while they ate.  Fortunately, Will didn’t seem to notice.  When they finished, he offered Nico his arm and asked for a dance.

“I think I’d like to sit for a while,” Nico said, even though he desperately wanted to accept.

“Why?” Will asked.  “Are you hurt from the tournament?”

“Uh...I’m a bit sore, yes,” Nico lied.  Really, he was just afraid that if he got up and danced with Will, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from kissing him.

Will looked concerned for a moment, but then he smiled happily.  “Then shall I take care of you?” he asked.

Dozens of debauched scenarios flashed through Nico’s mind at the question.  “What?” he squacked.

“Don’t you remember, Dearest?” asked Will with a soft, pure smile that made it clear he had no idea what he was doing to Nico.  “You stayed in my clinic after the wolf attack and I took care of you.”

“Oh...uh....”  Nico swallowed, remembering the game they’d played the night before.  He imagined lying in Will’s clinic, imagined Will’s hands touching him, asking him what felt good....

“Dearest,” Will said in a gentle voice, reaching out to put his hand on Nico’s upper arm.

A wave of heat surged through Nico’s body.  He wanted to tackle Will to the floor and kiss every inch of exposed skin.  He wanted to push Will into a corner and devour him.  He wanted Will’s legs to wrap around him and he wanted—

The thought had barely entered Nico’s mind when the heat in his body was replaced by nausea and disgust.

“Do not touch me!” Nico snapped, snatching his arm away.  “Remember your place, Lord William.  Tonight, there are no masks and no pretending.  Do not forget that I am a prince.”

The expression on Will’s face had been so filled with adoration, but in the blink of an eye, he looked shocked and afraid.  Nico instantly hated himself.  Will was always polite and respectful.  Nico was upset with himself, not Will.

But before Nico could do anything to fix it, Will spoke up.  “Right,” he said, his hand falling to his side.  “My apologies, Your Highness.”

“No, I...” Nico started, but he had no idea what to say.  “That wasn’t what I meant.  I apologize.  I should not have snapped at you.”

“I understand,” Will said, but Nico got the feeling that Will didn’t understand at all.  “I’m not offended.  I’ll be more careful in the future, Your Highness.”

“Come dance with me,” Nico said, hoping to redeem himself by being kind again.  He stood up and offered Will his arm.

Will looked puzzled.  “But I thought....”

“It’s alright,” said Nico.  “I can handle it, so let’s have a dance.”

Will reached out hesitantly and accepted Nico’s arm, but his grip felt awkward when Nico led him into the hall.  He was normally a beautiful dancer, but there was a stiffness to his movements all night long and no amount of kindness seemed to cure it.

At the end of the evening, Hedge accompanied them as Will escorted Nico to his guest chambers.  “Good night, Your Highness,” Will said with a respectful bow.  “I will meet you again in the morning.”

“Yes,” Nico said.  He stepped a bit closer, hoping for a goodnight kiss.

It didn’t come.  Will smiled at him and waited patiently for Nico to turn away and enter his chambers.  Nico tried to tell himself that it was just because Will did not want to initiate a kiss around Hedge.  In fact, Will rarely initiated kisses at all.  But Nico wanted him to and now it seemed that he never would.

Nico knew that he wasn’t an easy person to get along with; he had sabotaged more marriage consultations than he cared to remember.  The reason that he’d ended up engaged to Will was that Will’s excess of kindness made up for Nico’s deficiency.

Nico had thought that he was starting to become kind.  He’d begun to hope that he could prove himself to be worthy of someone like Will.  Just when Nico was starting to believe that he would have a happy marriage, he had hurt the person he wanted to cherish.

*   *   *

Everything about Percy was devastatingly alluring, in Annabeth’s opinion.  Firstly, there was his figure, which Annabeth could dedicate entire sagas to.  She would fight wars for that body.  Percy carried himself with a carefree, debonair grace, like he was either tragically unaware of how good-looking he was or so confident in his appearance that he’d become indifferent to it.  He could charm even the strictest of tutors with nothing more than a pout when he didn’t get his way.  Percy was mostly unaware of exactly how magnetic he was, but he appeared to be figuring it out.  That could mean trouble for a lot of people, Annabeth included.  It was fortunate that Annabeth didn’t mind Percy’s particular style of trouble.

However, despite how unfathomably attractive her new husband was and despite the fact that it was their wedding night, Annabeth was lying next to him in bed, staring at the ceiling, not touching him except to hold his hand.  It had been a long, tiring day.  Although she’d normally seize any opportunity to sully the bedsheets with Percy, Annabeth wasn’t in the mood.

“I’m hungry,” she said.

“So am I,” Percy replied with a yawn.  He didn’t seem to be in the mood, either, which made Annabeth feel better.  She had planned for their wedding night to be filled with wanton indulgence and disregard of reality, but it wasn’t going quite as expected.  They had both received quite a few bruises at the fencing tournament earlier that day, then they’d spent the rest of the evening either dancing nonstop or plotting, and it appeared that the soreness in their bodies had finally caught up to them.

“Do you want to get something from the kitchens?” Percy asked.

“Is that allowed?”

She felt Percy attempt a shrug next to her.  “Probably not,” he answered.

“Fantastic,” Annabeth replied.  “Let’s go.”

Some people were scandalized that a prince sometimes cooked for himself.  Annabeth loved it.  It meant that she could get all the midnight snacks that she wanted.

It was Percy’s mother who taught him to cook.  Sally had been a kitchen maid in the palace when she met Percy’s father.  After ending their relationship, Poseidon arranged the marriage of Sally to a nobleman, intending for it to be a gift to show his favoritism.  The marriage had been a disaster, but fortunately, Gabe was long gone.  Percy was close to his mother.  She had insisted upon being the one in charge of raising him despite suggestions for the King to find Percy a governess, so Poseidon had ultimately granted her wish.  Eventually, Sally ended up becoming the palace’s head chefs and marrying one of Percy’s favorite tutors, and now she, Percy, her second husband, and her young daughter made up a happy little family that Annabeth was thrilled to be a part of.

There were still a few dozen guests in the hall dancing when they sneaked out of the palace to walk along the beach, snacks in hand.  Neither of them had bothered to put on shoes.  They’d only slipped some simple clothes over their undergarments before leaving.  Annabeth loved the feeling of the evening chill as they walked.  The sand felt soft under her feet and between her toes, and the occasional wave felt refreshing against her skin.  With Percy on her arm, feeding her spicy little sandwiches, Annabeth couldn’t imagine being happier.

They splashed in the water when they finished their sandwiches, then Percy found a sea star and brought it to Annabeth to show her before putting it back in the ocean.  Her skirts were wet almost to the knee when she noticed the Juvian ship in the pier.

“Percy?” she called.  “Was that ship there earlier?”

Percy stood up from where he’d been examining a crab.  “I don’t think so.  It looks like it’s just docking now,” he answered.

Annabeth turned to him, even more excited than before.  “It must be Athena,” she said.  “Let’s go and greet her.”

Percy smiled back at her.  He didn’t get along with Athena (most people didn’t get along with her), but he knew how important it was to her that Athena was at their wedding.  Percy took her hand and they climbed up the beach to get to the pier just as Athena stepped onto the docks.

“Athena!” Annabeth called, pulling Percy along to meet her.

Athena turned and her lip curled when she saw their clothes.  “Why are you wet?” she asked with disdain.

Annabeth felt her smile fall.  Athena hadn’t greeted her with a “congratulations!” or an apology for being so late, or even a simple “it’s good to see you.”  No, the first thing Athena did was scowl and question Annabeth’s state of dress.

“We were taking a walk,” Annabeth answered.

“It appears that you lost your way and wandered into the ocean,” Athena said coldly.

“Welcome to Salacia, Lady Athena,” Percy cut in.  He bowed to her politely.  Annabeth gave him a look of appreciation when he caught her eye.  Percy had a bit of a temper and was not known for his tact, but he also knew when Annabeth needed his help trying to keep Athena pacified...or trying to keep herself pacified.

Athena eyed Percy with an air of disapproval.  “Thank you,” she said without feeling.  “Am I to assume that you have a carriage waiting?”

“We don’t,” answered Annabeth.  “We walked.”

“Pity,” Athena said, like she’d expected that answer and had only asked to let Annabeth know that she wasn’t pleased.  “I suppose we’ll wait for my carriage to come off the ship so I can return you to the palace.”

Annabeth exchanged another glance with Percy.  It was very like Athena to look at someone who had polite intentions and only see an inconvenience.  Annabeth kept herself from speaking up.  She did not want to ruin her wedding by having another fight with her guardian.

Annabeth and Percy remained silent until Athena’s carriage and horses were ready for them.  Athena turned to them and once again curled her lip when she glanced at their bare feet and wet clothes, like all she could think about was them dripping water and ruining the floor.  She let them in, but did not appear happy about it.  She spent the entire trip to the palace with her arms crossed, sneering out the window like she was offended by the garish colors of the Neptunian houses.  Annabeth recommended that they exit the carriage early to climb the stairs beside the Grand Cascade, which was especially beautiful when lit up at night, but Athena turned her down, saying that she wanted to get to her room as quickly as possible.

“Would you like me to escort you to where you’ll be staying?” Annabeth asked when they arrived at the palace.  “Your room is in the same suite as Jason and Thalia’s.”

“That will do,” Athena said before Annabeth had even finished.  She looked displeased about having to share a suite with her two younger half-siblings, but she didn’t complain.

“Then it’s right this way,” Annabeth said.  Before she could start walking, Percy tapped her arm and gave her a questioning look, like he was asking if she wanted him to come along or not.  Annabeth shook her head.  She wanted to try to talk to Athena alone.

“I’ll wait for you at the east staircase,” Percy said quietly, then he kissed her forehead and left.

“Where is he going?” Athena asked, looking at Percy’s retreating figure like she was offended that the Prince wasn’t personally escorting her.

Annabeth sighed.  No matter how hard she tried, every choice she made seemed to displease Athena.  “He’s taking care of some other business,” Annabeth lied.  “Your room is this way.”

Athena was quiet as they walked.  The guests seemed to have all gone back to their rooms for the night, so the only sound was the heels of Athena’s shoes clacking against the marble floors and the soft padding of Annabeth’s bare feet.  The marble felt hard and cold—even colder than the ocean water.  Her wet skirts felt heavy and uncomfortable, but even worse was the feeling of Athena’s stare of disapproval, silently judging her state of dress and choice of husband.

As they approached the suite, Annabeth finally worked up the courage to clear her throat and say, “I thought you’d be here earlier.”

“Well, I wasn’t,” Athena said shortly.  “I’m here in time for gift-giving day, so you need not worry; you will receive your present tomorrow.”

“Present...?” Annabeth slowly repeated.  “You think I wanted you to come to get a present?”

“Why else would my presence be required?  I came as you wished, Annabeth.  I don’t appreciate the way you are speaking to me.”

Annabeth felt like she’d been splashed in the face with cold ocean water.  “I...I wanted you to be there for the procession,” she said.

Athena scoffed.  “Why would I want to stand in a crowd just to watch you ride in an uncovered carriage through the city?”

“But I wanted you to take the role of the mother at the bathing ceremony.”

“I’m not your mother,” snapped Athena.  “Besides, you aren’t Romanus.  Why do you care about their ridiculous traditions?”

Annabeth frowned.  It was one thing when Athena voiced her disapproval of Annabeth—Annabeth was used to that.  But it was different when Athena insulted Percy’s entire culture.  “I’m marrying—married to a Romanus man!  Of course I care about their traditions!”

“Be reasonable, Annabeth.  Does it really matter?”

“It matters to me!”

“Well, perhaps if you’d married in Olympus I would have gone to your silly ceremonies.  When you were a child, this match seemed decent enough, but far more suitable candidates became available later on.  It was foolish of you to insist upon this marriage and soon you will come to regret—”

“Stop it!” said Annabeth.  “Stop it, Athena!  Why can’t you support me this one time?  Is it too much to ask for you to be happy for me?  I thought that you might at least pretend because I am leaving Jupiter and I won’t see you often anymore.  I know that I have never been good enough for you, but I hoped....”

“You hoped that I would pretend to support a marriage that I have opposed for years?”

Annabeth’s blood ran cold.  Of course.  What had she been thinking?  How could she have tricked herself into believing that Athena would behave any differently just because it was her wedding?  Athena had never approved of anything she’d ever done, so why would she start then?

“You’re right,” Annabeth said, her voice cracking.  “It was foolish of me to think that you....”  She swallowed and forced herself to meet Athena’s eyes.  “Maybe it would have been better if you hadn’t come after all,” she said.  “Goodnight, Athena.”

Annabeth turned away without waiting for an answer, barely able to keep herself from running.  She held her head high as she walked, refusing to make a sound even though her eyes were burning with tears.

Like he’d promised, Percy was waiting at the foot of the east staircase.  When he saw her, he looked sad, but not surprised.  “I’m so sorry, Annabeth,” he whispered, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

“I’m alright,” Annabeth croaked.  “It’s just who Athena is.  This will be the last time I have to put up with it.”  Percy helped her dry her eyes and she did her best to compose herself, then she realized that she’d left Athena at the door of the suite without taking her inside.  “Oh no,” she said with a bit of a laugh.  “I forgot to show her which bedroom was hers.  She could walk into Jason or Thalia’s bedroom and—wait, oh gods!  Jason!”

“What about Jason?” Percy asked.

“We left Jason and Piper locked in the sitting room,” Annabeth said in horror.  “We never let them back out.”

Percy swore and took Annabeth’s hand.  They ran up the stairs and into their apartments, fished the key out of the sloppy pile of clothes in Percy’s bedroom, and unlocked the door to the sitting room.

Piper and Jason were less offended than Annabeth had feared.

“You forgot about us and left us locked in a room for three hours,” accused Jason.

“Well, yes,” Percy admitted.  “But if you’d really wanted to escape, you would have noticed that the balcony behind you conveniently connects back into the rest of the suite.”

Piper’s eyes narrowed.  “Well, it’s unfortunate that you didn’t give us a tour before locking us in a room for three hours.”

“I’m sure you had a nice three-hour bonding experience,” Percy said with a guilty smile.

Jason shook his head, but stopped when he looked at Annabeth.  “Annabeth?  You look like you’ve been crying,” he said.  “What happened?”

Annabeth rubbed her eyes again.  “Athena came,” she said coldly.

Jason paused before saying, “I see.”

Annabeth didn’t want to say anything else.

“It didn’t go well,” Percy told him quietly, putting his arm on Annabeth’s shoulder like he’d sensed that she wanted him to fill in for her.

“Nothing ever goes well with Athena,” Jason said.  “She’s always like that, Annabeth.  You know that.”

Annabeth nodded, but it wasn’t true.  It always seemed like Athena was harder on her than she was on anyone else.

“I do not want to deal with her right now,” Jason sighed tiredly.  “She always stays up late to read.  You ought to lock me back up until she finally goes to bed.”

“Jason, you can just stay here,” Annabeth cut in.  “She might have invaded your room, anyway.”

“Come with me,” Percy said, taking Jason’s shoulder.  “I’ll get you a dressing gown.”

“Piper, you might as well stay, too,” Annabeth added.

“Now, wait a minute, Annabeth,” Piper demanded, putting her hands on her hips.  “You already locked me in a room with a man for three hours, and now you’re going to put us both in your bedroom?”

Annabeth tried to laugh, but she was too exhausted.  “No, you and I will take my room,” she said.  “Jason will stay with Percy.”

“Don’t worry; the sheets were changed, so they’re clean,” Percy said as he led Jason off to his wardrobe.

Piper sighed.  Annabeth wouldn’t admit it, but the only reason she and Percy referenced their sex life around people as often as they did was because the reactions were so amusing.

“Come with me,” Annabeth said, putting her arm around Piper’s shoulders.  “I’m sure I have something that will fit you.  We’ll all take our breakfast together tomorrow morning.”

“Are you sure your husband won’t be jealous that you’re spending your wedding night with me?” Piper asked dryly.

Annabeth winked.  “Oh, Piper,” she said with a flirtatious smile.  “Percy has known about us for a long time.”

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