#the next person who tries to tell me nico and hazel are three years apart owes me lunch

[aroaceleovaldez]

Hazel and Nico being born almost exactly one month apart is so funny to me, especially since they both have winter birthdays, cause it implies Hades just had one very rough spring of missing Persephone really bad

[phykios]

honesty and promise me, part 3 [read on ao3] [co-written with @darkmagyk]

Several more weeks and hookups later, Annabeth thinks she should probably come clean. Some people might bury it deep, and for sure, Annabeth’s considered it, but, well. It is kind of embarrassing that she didn’t know Percy’s name at first. Stuff like that doesn’t usually bother her--she’s had nameless one night stands in the past, and despite Thalia’s ribbing, she knows that Thalia doesn’t really care either. It’s just that, you know, he’s Thalia’s family, and they’ve seen each other a few more times, and they are planning to continue to see each other a few more times in the future. Or more than a few times. 

Anyway, she kind of feels like she owes it to him. Like he deserves this small nugget of truth, payment for all the times he’s fucked her blind. It’s nagging at her, and she hates feeling like she owes anyone anything. 

Piper certainly seemed to think so, when Annabeth had told her over their monthly brunch date.

“It’s just common courtesy at this point,” she said. “Like, what if you guys end up married and then sell your story to Hollywood, they cast my dad as the male lead, and it comes out in interviews that you didn’t know his name for like a month? He’s gonna get the wrong idea.”

Annabeth wasn’t sure which part was more ridiculous: the movie, Piper’s dad being involved, or them being married.

Anyway, sharing some of her avocado fries, Piper had reminded her that being mean wasn't very punk rock, shutting her up effectively.

She’s out on site in the Lower East Side, taking measurements for plots of land, writing down sun angles and measuring the wind velocity between the brick buildings, when she gets a text from him. 

I’m on a break and I’m starving 😩 Want to grab something to eat?

It’s 2pm on a Thursday and he wants to grab something to eat. If Annabeth didn’t know any better, she’d say that that sounds like a real, honest-to-goodness, bona fide date. (Meeting up at and subsequently leaving bars together does not count as a date, she’s pretty sure. Neither do the booty calls.) He’s been getting a little free with his texts, that boy, sending her selfies and memes and questions about her day, and now this? An invitation to their first, actual date? She should block him on principle, just for the sheer audacity.

sure, wya

520 8th, text me when you get here 😁

That’s another thing: Percy loves his emojis. If this is going to continue, they’re going to need to have a serious talk about that. 

She doesn’t need to text him when she gets there; he’s already outside, leaning on the stone edifice of the building like a particularly jacked rent boy in his tight t-shirt and broody look, cigarette between his fingers. The sweatpants sort of ruin the image, though. He looks particularly comfortable in a way that warms Annabeth right from the inside out. “You know, when Nico said you smoked, I honestly didn’t believe it.” she says, not even bothering to say hi. 

He looks up from his phone and smiles, the sun behind his teeth. “Hey!” 

“Hey, yourself.” She doesn’t even hesitate--she plucks the cigarette out of his hand, taking a drag off it herself. “You been smoking for a long time?”

“Who do you think taught Thalia how?” He raises an eyebrow, bemused. “Is that a problem?”

It is, but it’s not like she can tell him that without losing some of her credibility. “Wouldn’t smoking fuck with your cardio?”

Percy shrugs, conceding. “A little. I used to be a lot worse, but I just can’t quite kick the habit. It’s mostly a stress thing, anyway.” 

“Rough practice?” she asks, putting just enough effort into her lip wobble to make it abundantly clear that she’s making fun of him. “Were the other boys being mean to you because of your tights?”

He grins at her, saucy. “Annabeth Chase, do you really think that NYCB rehearses here? In the Garment District?” But he laughs before she can stammer out an answer (and thank God, she’s lived here three years and can barely keep the boroughs straight, let alone the neighborhoods). “I just wrapped up teaching a class. I don’t have to be at rehearsal until 5, I was thinking we could hang out? Bryant Park?”

A first date at the New York Public Library. She almost hates to admit it, but Percy Jackson might be kind of her dream man. “I believe I was promised food,” she sniffs, but she does hold out her hand, and when he takes it, lacing his fingers through hers, she’s sure that he can feel her heart beating, palm to palm. 

Twenty minutes later they’re settled on a bench in the corner of the green, Annabeth halfway into a ham sandwich and Percy juggling a salad and an iced coffee. He’s been regaling her with tales from the more exciting side of ballet, a side she hadn’t even imagined could actually exist. “So by the time I land in Paris,” he says, taking a sip of coffee, “the guy’s foot has swollen up to, like, twice its original size, and when I finally managed to find some wifi to check my phone, there’s, like, eight missed calls from my mom and my agent, and an email from her that just says ‘READ THIS,’ in all caps, and of course the article is in French, which I didn’t really speak at the time, and I was so stressed that my ADHD made it so I couldn’t even read the Google translation, and I had to ask someone to translate it for me.”

“Oh my god,” she says, struggling to keep it in.

“And that’s how I found out that I’d been moved up to first cast in Le Corsaire, from the poor barista at a coffee shop in Charles de Gaule!” He laughs. 

“That’s insane,” Annabeth says. “And the show was the next day?”

“It was that night! I had to haul ass to the opera house and get warmed up, because I was going on in about four hours. You should have seen the looks on everyone’s faces when I stumbled in, I’m sure that they all wanted to kill me.” Percy chuckles, taking a bite of leafy greens. “Now I wasn’t just the twenty-year-old upstart American, I was the twenty-year-old upstart American who skipped town when I wasn’t supposed to.”

“How did it go?”

“Killed it, of course,” he says, deservedly smug. 

Despite her best efforts, she’s absolutely entranced; he’s a great storyteller. “I bet you break that story out at parties all the time, don’t you.”

He laughs. “Whatever gets the donors to open their checkbooks, right?”

“I can’t believe you lived in Paris. I’ve always wanted to see it.” She’d had a few chances to when she was in college, the semester she’d studied abroad in Rome, but she just never got around to it. Just another item on her long, long list of regrets, placed somewhere between the sketchy burrito from last week and not telling her mom to fuck off earlier when she’d had the chance. “If I were you, I’d never leave.”

Percy shrugs. “It was amazing, I won’t lie. But towards the end I just really, really missed it here. All my family is in NYC, you know? My mom, step-dad, and my sister live here, and Thalia and Nico and Hazel, too. I tried to come back and visit whenever I could, but being away from them was really hard.” There’s something soft and inviting in his expression when he says, “I’m really happy to be back home.”

“What are they like?” Annabeth asks. “Your family. Your non-mob family, I mean.”

He rolls his eyes, but he grins another one of those blinding grins, too. “My mom is the most amazing person you will ever meet. Not only did she support my dance habit, she did it as a single working mother who had to raise an angry, ADHD asshole of a son who didn’t always appreciate her. I don’t even want to know how many hours she had to work or how many scholarships and grants she had to track down in order to pay for me to go to SAB, but somehow she made it work, and managed to write her novel at the same time. She married my step-dad the summer I turned sixteen, and my baby sister was born the next year.” 

Even Annabeth, cynical and black-hearted as she is, has to smile back. The love he has for his mom is so palpable, so tangible, she can practically see him glowing. “And the…” What had Thalia called them? “The ‘Cousin Consortium’?” 

At that, Percy laughs, full-bellied, unrestrained. “The name was Nico’s idea. I didn’t really have many close friends when I was a kid, apart from my buddy Grover--he had to wear this really gnarly leg brace and I liked to dance, so you can imagine how much we got picked on--but we were all really close growing up, since our dads were all assholes. They may have left us emotionally scarred, but at least we had each other’s backs the whole time.”

This is a very Percy thing, she’s starting to realize: he can not and will not hold back on his feelings. He simply refuses to. Where most guys might try to hide or downplay their affection for their friends, Percy’s is written all over his face. Maybe it’s a byproduct of doing ballet, but he’s so unashamed of his love for his friends and his family and his art, that maybe Annabeth kind of wishes she could be included in that love too, if it always feels this warm and joyful. 

“I think it’s amazing that you guys are so close. I only had the one cousin when I was growing up, and we didn’t really talk all that much,” Annabeth says, almost without her permission. Something about him, it’s just so easy to talk to him. He makes it safe to open up.

“The med school guy, right?” 

Annabeth nods. “Magnus. Fifth generation Harvard student. We’re all very proud.” 

Ugh. Even she has to wince at the false cheer in her voice. Percy gives her a half-smile, sympathetic and soft. “Harvard not really for you, then?” he asks, picking up the threads of a long and complicated story, and one that she absolutely does not want to get into right now. Or ever, if she can help it. 

“More like I wasn’t really for Harvard.” Which wasn’t entirely untrue. She had been good enough for the university in Cambridge, Mass--good enough for two degrees and graduation with honors--but she had never been good enough for her mother’s capital-H Harvard. Never good enough for her mother at all, really. 

Percy takes her hand. His fingers are cold from his iced coffee. “Hey. It’s their loss,” he says, with a sincerity and an intensity that makes her blush.

Every part of her wants to pull away. His thumb is rubbing against the joint of her finger, soothing and sweet, and she thinks she may break out in hives from it. “Damn right it is,” she mumbles. 

He is so nice. So nice and hot and sweet. Objectively, what she’s about to do is a terrible idea, and might torpedo a really good thing that they have, but if she doesn’t come clean now her own guilt is going to drive her insane.

“Okay, I have a confession to make.” Percy raises his eyebrows, slurping the last dregs of his drink. “When we met… and then when we hooked up the first time… I may have… thoughtyouwereJason.”

He blinks. “Pardon?” he asks, mumbled around the straw.

Annabeth buries her head in her hands. “Please don’t make me say it again.”

“You… thought I was Jason?”

“Well,” she sputters, glaring at him through her fingers, “you were being all bro-y with Thalia!”

He is valiantly trying to hold in a smile. “You know, I distinctly remember telling you my name that morning.”

“I was really hungover,” she whines, “and you were shirtless and making breakfast so I wasn’t really… paying attention.”

“For a whole week?”

This is so embarrassing, why couldn’t she just keep her stupid mouth shut? “Yeah.” She slumps her shoulders, stuffing her hands into her jacket pocket. “Sorry.”

She’s not entirely sure what she expected: at best a couple of weird looks and a tentative promise to meet up later that would end up not working out, at worst she thinks he’ll just get up and leave her here at Bryant Park. Either way, they’d be doomed to months of awkward interactions, until eventually they wouldn’t be able to be around each other, and Thalia would have to pick a side--and Annabeth’s seen what Thalia does to people who cross her family. She’s seen Thalia beat a dude to pulp for calling Nico the f-slur. Picking Percy over Annabeth? That’s nothing.

So when he starts laughing, Annabeth is completely at a loss. Slowly, at first, then all at once, he’s laughing so hard his shoulders are shaking, and he has to put down his salad so it doesn’t topple over onto the grass. His head is tilted back in joy, the grey, late afternoon light adamant that Annabeth can see all of his features clearly, from his screwed up eyes to his bright, white teeth to the single dimple in his cheek.

Of course, even his laughter is hot. Asshole. 

“You thought I was Jason!” He shrieks.

Annabeth crosses her arms, scowling. 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I really don’t mean to laugh,” he giggles. Annabeth can feel her own giggle rising in response, and she ruthlessly quashes it. “I can definitely say I’ve never heard that one before. You do know Jason is blond, right?”

“As a matter of fact, I did not. Besides, you and Thalia look exactly alike.”

He scoffs. “No we don’t.”

“Uh, yeah you do. You, Thalia, and Nico are all basically clones of each other.” 

“Okay, Captain Glasses, whatever you say.” He rolls his eyes, but there’s no heat behind it.

“I’m sorry,” Annabeth feels like she has to say again.

He cocks his head. “For what? For thinking I was Jason? He’s a pretty cool guy.”

“No, for,” she blushes again. All this blood rushing to her head can’t be good for her. “For sleeping with you when I still thought you were Jason.”

Percy scoots closer to her, throwing her a grin and slinging his arm over her shoulders. Without even realizing that she’s doing it, she settles in beside him like she’s been doing it her whole life, slotted up against his torso, tucking her booted feet beneath her legs. “I am choosing to take that as a compliment,” he says, smirking. “You couldn’t resist my charms, even when you thought I was a brogrammer.” 

Annabeth can’t help herself. She kisses him, wiping that smug grin right off his face, and when she finally retreats, after what feels like hours, he looks so dazed she could probably keep calling him by any name she wanted and he wouldn’t even realize it.

After their lunch, they meander for hours, headed in a vaguely southerly direction, holding hands the whole time, a steady, uninterrupted flow that took them all the way from Midtown to Greenwich Village. He tells her about his first day at ballet school; she tells him about her favorite monuments. “There are two architectural environments in America,” she says, ranting, speaking with enough force that she might forget the feeling of his hand in hers, “endless dead suburbia, or cities where every single building is either a concrete or a glass block--and not even Brutalist concrete, just shitty, poorly designed, paint-by-numbers concrete. It is an absolute travesty of modern government that they don’t fund any public works projects anymore.”

“That’s why all the gardens and stuff?” he asks.

“Nowadays everything is built by the lowest bidder. At least I get to add some beauty back into the city.”

“I know what you mean,” Percy says. “Paris is practically overflowing with public works, you almost forget about it sometimes.”

She sighs. “You’re so fucking lucky. Paris is so beautiful and everything in New York is just hideous.”

“Aw, come on,” he says. “Not everything. What about the Empire State Building, or Central Park?”

“Well, obviously, those,” she says, just a teensy bit flustered, but she’s not about to give up the argument without a fight. “I just mean like, normal, every day buildings: offices and apartments and stuff. It’s all so samey and boring.”

He looks to her right, pointing at the building they are passing. “What about this one?”

She turns.

If she had known they were headed this way, she never would have taken them past here.

“It’s… okay, I guess,” she mumbles, staring up at the arched windows, pedimented doors, and Rococo details of Miss Minerva’s Private Pre-College Prep School. A shudder goes down her spine, like someone walking over her grave. “There are better Beaux-Arts buildings.”

Sensing her discomfort, he picks up the pace, and changes the subject.

Finally, he stops outside a nondescript building, turning to face her. “This is me,” he says, a little bit mournfully, squeezing her hand. “Are you okay to get home safely?”

This man is ridiculous; it’s not even dark out. “I think I can manage a few blocks,” she says, lightly swatting him. “Isn’t it kind of early for you, though? It’s only four o’clock.”

He flushes faintly, one hand coming up to rub at his neck. “Uh, well, I always give myself a little extra time--you know, time blindness and everything.”

“You baked in extra time in case I wanted you to walk me home, didn’t you?” She mock-gasps, secretly delighted. “Scandal!”

“Guilty,” he grins. “You’ve been to mine so many times, I was curious.”

She just barely stops herself from laughing out loud at the very idea of Percy coming to her apartment--as if. Thalia hasn’t even been to her apartment. Nobody knows where she lives, none of her neighbors know who she is, and this is entirely by design. “Cut me some slack; a girl’s gotta have some mystery. Can’t make it too easy for you, can I?”

“I have a feeling you’ll never make things easy for me,” he says, white teeth gleaming.

“You better believe it,” she smiles back. “Now that I’ve foiled your plans, are you going to be too bored?”

“Oh, I’ll think of something,” he shrugs. “I’m very resourceful when it comes to boredom.”

Inspiration strikes, and she grasps his hand, pulling him down the alleyway. She almost hates to admit it, but she has something of a Pavlovian response when it comes to hanging out with Percy. Annabeth has come to expect some really excellent sex whenever the two of them meet up, and maybe spending all afternoon with him has made her a little bit horny. 

She presses him up against the brick wall, hidden from the street by the long afternoon shadows, and kisses him. His hands flounder for a second, before coming up to rest on her shoulders, this thumbs tapping against the base of her neck, fingers fluttering on her jacket. It’s an intimate touch, kind of chaste and very respectful, and he holds her with precision and grace. He wouldn’t do anything she wouldn’t want to. This is a date with no expectation of sex on his part. But Annabeth does not want grace right now, spooked by the ghost of her old school. She does not want precision. She just wants him. She just wants to keep him on his toes, keep him interested, blow his mind a little. 

She just wants to blow him, to be honest. 

He squeaks into her mouth as her hands fly to his belt, deft fingers practically ripping it off of him in an increasingly familiar motion. “H-hey,” he says, squeezing her shoulders, “this is--”

“Do you not want me to?” she asks, one hand playing at the top line of his underwear. 

“No--I mean, are you sure? I’m-I’m okay with this, I just want to--”

“I know.” She kisses his cheek, then drops to her knees. “But we’ve got some time to kill, don’t we.” 

Afterwards, when she’s finished with him, Annabeth wipes her mouth, and he whimpers. 

“Ho… holy shit,” he pants, flushed and trembling. 

She tucks him back into his boxers, doing up his fly. “There we go. That was better than being bored, right?”

He nods wordlessly, swallowing, shaking. His eyes are glassy and glazed, stupid like he’s just shot out his brain through his dick.

In the short time they’ve been together (though, honestly, this might be the longest relationship she’s ever been in before… and they haven’t even broached the “dating” conversation yet) Annabeth has been on the receiving end of several different Percy looks. His face will light up with joy when he first lays his eyes on her, so happy to see her (though she can’t really fathom why), glinting like the sun on the water. His eyes will narrow, glaring, even as he furiously tamps down on his growing smile when they start arguing over something stupid, like Annabeth’s affinity for olives. He’ll grin at her, knife sharp and slanted, licking his lips and looming over her after she comes down from yet another orgasm via his mouth or his hands.

Percy looks at her now like someone took a bat to his head, and instead of seeing stars, he sees little miniature Annabeths flying around. 

He pulls her to him and kisses her, entirely too sweet for what she’s just done to him, but that is also a very Percy thing. And when she leaves him with a final kiss on his cheek and squeeze of his ass, she can feel that look burning a hole through her jacket, following her down the alley and around the corner, and she finds that she doesn’t mind the weight of it at all.

[demigodlunar]

Scars - Chapter 3

Wow, people have already read this sooo fast! Thanks so much, I appreciate it :D

_____________________________________________________________

Chapter 3 - Take Over With Grace

“Mr. Grace?”

Jason was jerked out of his fantasies of being a normal child- for about the millionth time- when he heard his last name being tossed out carelessly in the large crowd.

He shielded his eyes from the camera’s flash setting and the just the sight of the showy clothes of the countless paparazzi and media that were here for the interview.

“Mr. Grace, what do you have to say about the shares in the stock market for Olympic Inc. going down last week?”, one of the nameless news reporters asked, arousing another round of nods and agreement.

And once again, Jason sighed in relief that the question wasn’t directed towards him. He was Mr. Grace, yes.

But not to the public. To the public, Jason was just a secretary or student intern that happened to be at the interview. No one important. His father, Zeus Grace, was the one that was being bombarded by questions.

Jason could hear his father's loud and commanding voice over the racket of the others, answering the question with a calm, precise tone and reassuring words. He gulped, being reminded once again that this could- would- be him soon.

The annoying little voice in the back of his head whispered again, you’re almost 18. Almost time to take over the company.

Jason tried to keep the headache at bay. He hated the fact that soon, he wouldn’t be a normal 18-year-old boy without a care in the world. After he graduated from high school next year, Jason’s father wouldn’t even bother sending him to college. He would take over Olympic Inc. the moment he threw his square graduation cap in the air.

Jason could remember a distinct memory from when his parents were still talking to each other.

~~~~~~~~~~

8-year-old Jason Grace peeked out from behind the door to stare into the living room, where his parents were yelling at full volume, not even caring to lock the door or try to reduce their voices to not scare the children.

“He’s just 8 years old,” his mother, Beryl Grace, screamed, “A child! You can’t bring him into all your business and politics, I won’t allow it!”

“He’s my child, so I will decide whether I start teaching him how to take over the company when he’s older, and introduce him to the press.”, Zeus yelled back with just as much vigor.

“Your child! YOUR CHILD!” Beryl screeched, “He’s my child too! You already told the world about Thalia and now she can’t even leave the house without the media asking her if she’s going to take over the company!”

Jason winced at his mother’s voice, not even understanding what they were so upset about. If they could just talk it out, maybe they could come to an understanding.

“Thalia will not be taking over the company,” Zeus argued, taking on a defensive tone, “I vowed only my first-born son would be the head. Besides, Thalia wouldn’t want to take over. Once I tell the media that Jason will be the new CEO, they will get off her case.”

“And then what about Jason? Then they start stalking him? AT 8?” Beryl yelled, screaming a string of words that almost made Jason’s ears bleed afterward.

“Fine,” Zeus said, deadly calm, “Until Jason is legally an adult, we will keep him hidden from the public. I will still teach him what he needs to know, but he can be seen as a normal boy at least until then. Then, he will take over the company.”

Jason stood there, trying to figure out what “take over the company” and “new CEO” meant. Now, Jason was a smart boy, but this seemed to stump him. Would he become like Daddy? Working all the time and wearing those tight looking suits and ties?

Ew.

Jason didn’t want to do that, that seemed boring.

He turned his attention back to his parents in the living room, and they had calmed down excessively. He tuned into the conversation to hear what they were saying.

“... you take Thalia and I will take Jason,” Zeus said, holding his hand out to Beryl.

She stared at it for a couple of seconds before grabbing it and shaking it briskly, “Deal, but they have to be able to meet. They love each other, you know.”

Zeus sighed, “Of course, every Saturday and Sunday?”

Beryl nodded and she started walking to the door that Jason was hiding behind. Jason jumped back as she pushed it open and walked up to Thalia’s room.

The next hour was a blur and all he remembered was Thalia crying and yelling that she didn’t want to go, and that made Jason cry too. He didn’t like to see his sister cry, she was really good to him. After they both calmed down, Jason learned a new word.

Divorce. It rolled off his tongue but in a bad way. When your parents left and lived in different houses.

Well, Jason thought, At least I will get to see them still.

But living with his dad was something that Jason never got used to.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jason was startled out of the memory when a finger snapped under his nose three times in quick succession. He looked up bewildered at the snapper. Thalia grinned down at him and put her arm around him.

“Hey, little bro! Spacing out again I see.”

Jason rolled his eyes but smiled fondly, “You're only one year older. Besides, I was just thinking of when I have to take over the company.”

Thalia’s easy smile disappeared, and she frowned, “I still can’t believe that dad is giving you no choice at all. I mean, you're wasting your life on something that will never make you happy.”

Jason sighed, every time that this topic was brought up Thalia made the same argument. He tugged at his tie, feeling uncomfortable all of a sudden.

“Just let it go, Thals.”

Thalia huffed but didn’t add any more fuel to the conversation. Then, she smiled widely. Jason almost tripped from the sudden change of attitude.

“I just remembered! I gotta go, little bro, Piper is having brunch at her place today,” she said while wiggling her eyebrows in a weird way.

Jason felt heat rush to his cheeks when his sister mentioned Piper Mclean. He could remember the first time he saw her.

It was in the hallway during their freshman year. He saw her stand up to Drew Tanaka when she was bullying some poor boy who looked at her wrong or something. When she yelled at Drew and embarrassed her in front of the whole hallway, Jason felt like he’d been shot.

If it wasn’t enough that Piper was a kind-hearted, brave person, she was also painfully beautiful. Even when she cut her hair, and wore baggy clothes, she was still extremely gorgeous. She also never noticed him.

It was safe to say that he had a very big crush on her.

“R-really?” he stammered, blushing, and wishing he never told Thalia about his crush in the first place because she found a reason to make fun of him for it all the time.

Thalia smirked and whipped out her phone and went to her messaging app, bringing up Piper’s contact.

Thalia wanted to introduce Jason to Piper to help him with his hopeless crush, but he’d voted against it. As painful as it was, he couldn’t be introduced as Thalia’s brother, because that would mean explaining their complicated family tree, including Percy (who Jason hasn’t heard from in years) and the fact that he would be a CEO of a famous company in a little over two years.

Jason brought his attention back to Thalia’s phone, where she was texting Piper. Their conversation was pretty casual.

(AN: Thalia, Piper)

Today - 11:34 AM

hey Pipes

hey Thals

wassup

nothing much, you?

i’m here with my brother at one of my dad’s interview things

Jason almost shrieked, but that wouldn’t be very manly of him. Instead, he shook Thalia’s shoulder forcefully.

“THALIA!” he winced as his voice squeaked.

“What?” Thalia frowned at him.

He stared at her, and sudden realization dawned on her as Piper’s reply came.

you have a brother?

“Oh shoot, oh shoot, oh shoot!” Thalia yelped, juggling her phone like it was on fire, “Oh my gods, what do I say? Should I say I was lying?”

“Yeah, because she’ll definitely believe it if you say ‘oh I was just kidding, sometimes I imagine I have a brother!’ She would think you’re crazy!” Jason deadpanned.

Thalia glared at him, and then she sighed resignedly, “Well, she knows now, and she’s one of my good friends, so I may as well just tell her the truth.”

Jason didn’t like that idea, but Thalia was already texting Piper again. He looked at the screen to see the conversation again.

yeah

EXCUSE ME, but how come you’ve never told me about him?

never came up

fine, you win, for now. show me a pic?

And in the next second, Thalia found a picture of Jason laughing at a joke that Hazel made, and sent it.

Jason made a mad grab for her phone, but it was too late. Oh no, he looked so dorky in that picture.

“Chill it bro, you look fine,” Thalia said, her eyes still on the screen.

Then, her face looked like she’d hit a gold mine, and she pushed the screen in front of Jason’s face.

oh, that cute boy you sit with at lunch sometimes? He’s really good looking.

Jason almost dropped the phone, and stood there rooted to the ground as Thalia cackled in the background.

Piper. Piper Mclean. Thought he, Jason Grace, was good looking?!?!? Jason felt like he might die.

Thalia wheezed as her laughing fits started subsiding, “Oh-oh my gods. Th-that was amazing!”

Then she typed a reply to Piper.

yes, he is, and he’s also here looking at our conversation.

Thalia erupted into another bout of laughter, and Jason waited for Piper to respond. But she didn’t.

He didn’t know how to feel about that.

Jason’s watch beeped, and he remembered that he was supposed to be heading to Hazel and Nico’s apartment to hang out. He waved goodbye to Thalia (who was still laughing like a lunatic) and made his way back to the apartments where his cousins lived.

Gods, he needed to clear his head before he went brain dead, and spending time with family, other than his dad, helped with that.

My, oh my, this was gonna be an eventful year. _____________________________________________________________

Hehe, there's some Jiper for ya. Poor Jason, being stifled like that... I can relate :(

-Blossom ;)

[chameleonwritess]

Forever Starts Today (Epilogue)

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

Nico has spent so much of his life fixating on his past. Now that Will's been in his life for so long, it's finally time for Nico to start focussing on his future.

He knows exactly how to start.

Word Count: 4383

Read the whole series on AO3

Nico smiled fondly as Percy clumsily dipped Annabeth in the middle of the floor. She attempted to scold him but couldn’t contain her laughter enough to do so properly. Nico had never seen her look as radiant as she did in her white dress trimmed with silver, her embroidered wedding train flowing out around the dancing couple from where it was attached into her curled up-do.

She wasn’t the only one looking radiant- Percy was dressed in a deep blue suit with a turquoise tie and grey flowers attached to his lapel. His hair was looking surprisingly tame, too, and Nico knew Sally Jackson was to thank for that. He looked ridiculously handsome and the bright smile added to his features just completed the look. Nico grinned at the sight. Two of his best friends had just gotten married and not a single monster had attacked the wedding. It was perfect.

“You’re looking uncharacteristically happy,” a familiar, snarky voice spoke besides Nico. He turned his head to the side and rolled his eyes at Reyna. She was dressed in deep plum robes and carried a champagne flute in her hand with an air of grace.

“They’ve both been through so much. I’m allowed to be happy that they’re happy- they deserve this,” Nico pointed out.

“Wise words, di Angelo. Who turned you into Socrates?” Reyna responded with a smirk. Nico elbowed her gently.

“Don’t bully me, I’m trying to be a better person,” he complained. Reyna let out a laugh at that.

“You were fine as the grumpy little emo we met you as,” she pointed out, ruffling his hair.

“Oi,” Nico batted her hand away, “don’t touch the hair- Will spent half an hour getting it into a ponytail.”

“Oh, he likes a man in a bun, does he?” Reyna raised an eyebrow. Nico flushed bright red and tried hard to keep in his laughter.

“Stop it, he’s only over there, he’ll hear you!” he complained, snorting a little through his nose.

Reyna let out a laugh too and finally settled into a stool next to Nico. Her eyes scanned the hall, taking in the appearance of all their remaining friends. The years hadn’t gone by without losses- one of the most significant being one of Nico and Reyna’s best friends, Jason Grace. His sister was here today with a few other Hunters that Percy and Annabeth knew well from their years of cooperation with them.

Nico tried not to think about their losses too much. He knew if he dwelled on the dead more than the living, he’d find himself right back in the mental state he was in when he lost Bianca. That was a place he never wanted to go back to.

“Piper’s doing well,” Reyna pointed out. It was true, Nico noted, as he glanced across the room and saw that other couples had started to spill onto the dance floor now Percy and Annabeth’s first dance was over. Piper had invited the daughter of Demeter she was currently seeing onto the dance floor and the two girls were twirling around and smiling. It was good to see the dark bags that had resided under her eyes over the past few years were finally dissipating.

“You are, too,” Nico reminded Reyna. Piper and Reyna both had a very long history with Jason and Reyna had seemed to everyone as if she’d recovered quite quickly from his loss. Nico knew her better, though. He knew she was still hurting a lot even if she didn’t want her legion to see it.

Reyna shrugged.

“All wars have losses. They’re never losses we’re prepared to make but we have no choice but to move forwards from the consequences,” she commented.

“Who’s Socrates, now?” Nico teased. Reyna rolled her eyes and smiled, taking a drink of champagne.

“Enough about that,” she batted the topic aside, “weren’t you going to put your big plan into action tonight?”

Nico sighed.

“I was but then I found out the wedding date and didn’t want to encroach. I’m not sure I’ll have the confidence, anyway,” he shrugged. Reyna raised a pointed eyebrow at him.

“These are all just excuses because you’re nervous. Percy and Annabeth won’t think it’s any such thing. You said yourself- tonight would be perfect, right? I say you still go for it,” she encouraged.

“I mean, I do have it on me but what if he-“ Nico started to voice his concerns when a flash of blond appeared in his field of vision. It appeared Nico’s boyfriend had finished his conversation with Hazel and Frank.

“Care to dance, dashing fellow,” Will Solace announced, bowing in front of Nico’s chair and offering his hand out. Nico took a moment to take his appearance in. Will had gone for an unusual choice of wedding attire, selecting a brown waistcoat with matching fitted pants over a baby blue shirt with a royal blue bowtie tightened snugly around his neck to match Nico’s tie that he’d been forced to wear for the event. His impish smile added to the outfit, making him look cuter than ever.

Nico snorted out a laugh and grabbed Will’s hand, hopping down from his stool.

“I suppose I could be tempted, on one condition,” Nico shrugged his shoulders.

“And what condition may that be?” Will asked, flashing Nico a grin.

Nico smirked back and gripped Will’s hand a bit tighter. In one swift movement, Nico slipped off his stool and put his arm around Will’s back, pressing his palm into the small of Will’s back and pulling him close against his chest.

“I get to lead,” Nico smirked, looking directly up into Will’s blue eyes.

“Sure,” Will responded breathlessly, his cheeks flushed red. Nico internally fist-pumped. His one mission in life was to make Will blush as much as possible and he was surprisingly very good at it as of late.

“Honestly,” Nico heard Reyna mutter behind him as he dragged Will onto the dance floor. As the two began dancing, Nico wondered if maybe Reyna had been right and he should go ahead with his previous plans for tonight. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, at all, it was just that he was… scared.

Nico pushed all thoughts of what he may or may not do that evening out of his head as Will leant down and whispered into Nico’s ear,

“Bets that Percy stands on Annabeth’s feet at least three times?”

Nico chuckled lowly underneath his breath as he spun Will around.

“Pretty sure I already saw him step on her toes four times. I reckon it will be eight times before she drags him off the dance floor,” he decided.

Will threw his head back a bit and laughed, capturing Nico’s full attention. Nico smiled at his boyfriend. He didn’t need to think about anything else with Will at his side.

Nico had sucked up all the courage he could muster and was going to do it. Reyna had given him the push he needed and he’d already texted Will to meet him at the top of Halfblood hill, just within the borders.

Whilst the new phones Leo had designed for them all were seemingly monster-proof, Nico still didn’t want to run any risks at all. Not tonight.

Now, here he was, pacing beside Thalia’s tree, half expecting the Lieutenant herself to appear and tell him to stop disturbing the soil above its roots.

No one did descend from the clouds, though, and Nico was left alone, waiting for Will. His boyfriend wasn’t late by any means- Nico didn’t think Will even could be late considering his promptness to every date the two had been on for the past six years- it was just that Nico was exceptionally early. His nerves had carried him to their meeting destination half an hour before the scheduled time.

Nico huffed out a laugh as he tried to dry the sweat on his hands using his jeans. He’d been dating Will for six whole years. It didn’t seem that long, really, although Nico also felt like someone could tell him he’d spent eternity with Will Solace and he wouldn’t argue. Still, six years was a long time for demigods when wars were seemingly around every corner.

The last few years had been relatively peaceful in comparison to the first few Nico spent outside the Lotus Casino. Nico was glad. He didn’t think he could cope with any more losses right now. He was still carrying the weight of all his other lost loved ones close to his chest, as were many of his other friends.

Will would be here soon, Nico noted, checking his watch for the twelfth time in the past ten minutes. He usually arrived at least ten minutes early so any second now, Nico would spot him walking up the hill.

Now that both of them had left Camp Halfblood, they lived in an apartment near Percy and Annabeth, near enough to both the mortal college Nico was attending and the hospital Will was interning at. Nico really didn’t understand how Will was still only an intern considering he’d had more medical experience than most doctors in the world and he was only twenty-one.

Nico still wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted to do with his life. Right now, he was very happy taking his degree in psychology. Nico had never imagined that he’d find himself attending school, never mind going on to college, but he’d found himself to actually enjoy the learning environment. Will was very proud of him too, not that that impacted his enjoyment of it in the slightest.

“Neeks, what’s got you looking so worried?” A soft voice startled Nico out of his thoughts as a hand encircled his wrist, gently. Nico stopped his pacing to come face to face with Will who had also changed out of his wedding attire, now sporting a light blue hoodie with a basketball shirt underneath. Nico nearly laughed out loud. Will didn’t even like basketball- especially with the number of arms he’d had to sew back on after particularly aggressive games at Camp Halfblood.

“I’m fine, don’t worry about it. Just- anxious to show you this, I suppose,” Nico wormed his way around the truth. Will considered him with analytical eyes as if he was a particularly complex branch of the nervous system in one of Will’s many anatomy books.

“Alright, I’ll believe you for now but you’d better not be lying, di Angelo,” he conceded, taking a hold of the sides of Nico’s corduroy jacket to tug him in a bit closer.

“Why would I lie to you?” Nico mumbled. Will smiled, clearly pleased with his response, and placed a gentle kiss on his lips.

“Aren’t you boiling in that jacket?” Will asked when he pulled away. Nico went red in the cheeks. He honestly was way too warm in the thick jacket intended for Winter. Despite the Spring breeze, it was just too heavy, but Nico had once been gifted the jacket by Will and he wasn’t about to take it off for tonight.

“A little, but it’s night and I run cold so I wanted to be prepared,” Nico argued. Will laughed and stroked the sunshine embroidered on the pocket that he’d sewn on himself.

“You, sir, are the biggest dork I know,” Will accused, “but-“ he continued when Nico tried to interject, “it just makes me love you even more.”

Will placed on arm over Nico’s shoulder and kissed the top of his head as Nico began to lead them higher up the hill for the perfect viewpoint.

“Now who’s the dork,” Nico grumbled, glancing up at Will with way more adoration in his eyes than he’d intended.

The two walked in silence for a little bit, Nico analysing the sky until he finally decided on the perfect spot.

“Ok,” Nico announced, “here’s good.”

“Nico, I hate to break it to you, but we’re still in the middle of the hill,” Will pointed out, looking around him as if he expected to find some big surprise.

“You’re so impatient,” Nico complained, tugging Will’s hand to get him to sit down on the ground next to him, “do you trust me?”

Will’s eyes found his, softening under the gaze.

“Of course I do, death boy,” he promised. Nico smiled and nodded, checking his watch again. Once upon a time, he would have complained at the nickname, but he’d grown to love with over the years. Not that any of the others would find out- they still found a sword at their necks if they attempted to call him ‘Neeks’ or made a jab at his heritage. Will was just… Will. He got away with everything when it came to Nico.

“We have about ten minutes. Tell me about your day whilst we wait,” Nico insisted.

“Nico, you were with me for most of it,” Will snorted with laughter. Nico rolled his eyes.

“I know that, duh, but who did you catch up with at the wedding? How was your trip to the hospital before you came here?” Nico asked. Will sprawled himself out across Nico’s lap, gazing up at him cheekily.

“Aw, you care about me that much?” Will teased.

“No, I just want the gossip,” Nico shrugged. Will gasped in mock horror and Nico huffed a laugh, brushing stray hairs away from Will’s eyes as his boyfriend finally launched into the stories he’d been after.

“So I talked to Piper at the wedding first, when you went over to talk to Percy and Annabeth. I asked how she was doing with Carys and the two are doing well. Piper’s thinking of asking her to be her girlfriend soon which is cute. Apparently, Carys memorised her coffee order after only two dates and she brings her flowers every date,” Will started.

“That is cute,” Nico noted, “pretty sure you don’t even know my coffee order.”

“You don’t like coffee, you nerd. You get a small hot chocolate with almond milk in every café we go in,” Will proved, his face breaking into a grin.

“Wow,” Nico said satirically, “a man after my own heart.”

Will lightly hit his stomach in complaint before continuing his story.

“So after that, Carys came up and I said hi and made small talk but decided to leave the two alone so they could get to the good stuff,” Will said, causing Nico to snort at his phrasing, “so I went to talk to your sister and Frank, ask them how they were doing and stuff.”

“You were talking to them for way longer than that. What are you hiding?” Nico noticed. Will pouted.

“When did you get so good at reading me?” he complained.

“Somewhere between Apollo arriving at camp and that time you tried to convince me Lou Ellen and Cecil still weren’t dating despite the fact I’d seen them making out in front of the Hecate cabin,” Nico noted.

“Fine, Hazel did tell me something but she made me swear not to tell you, so I won’t,” Will conceded with a sigh.

“What? That’s so unfair, she usually tells me everything,” Nico huffed. Will shrugged.

“She wants it to be a surprise,” he pointed out. Nico wracked his brains to think of a way to prise the information out of Will when he had a perfect idea.

“Okay, you won’t tell me? I’ll tickle it out of you,” Nico decided and before Will could even jump up in protest, Nico had flipped himself onto all fours above Will and his hands were already tracing lightly up and down his abdomen.

“W-wait, Nico! N-no hahaha don’t p-please don’t,” Will stammered, wriggling around under Nico’s dancing fingertips. Nico grinned down at his boyfriend as he became a blushing, writhing mess. Watching Will come undone beneath his fingertips was something that always made Nico’s day, even if it was just tickling this time.

“Tell me, then, Solace,” Nico demanded.

“Nicoooo,” Will complained, breathing heavily as he attempted and failed to grab Nico’s hands and still them.

“Fine, fine! I’ll tell you, but you have to pretend you don’t know when she tells you herself,” Will spluttered, gasping for breath as Nico’s hands finally stilled.

Nico pulled Will back up to a sitting position but remained firmly in his lap, looking expectantly into Will’s eyes. He still couldn’t believe Hazel had told Will something before she’d told him. Will was practically already a part of the family.

“She’s pregnant,” Will whispered as if there were people around to overhear, “and Frank is going to ask her to marry him once the baby is born.”

“No way!” Nico yelled, jumping to his feet angrily, “I’m going to be an uncle and my own sister didn’t bother to tell me?”

Will laughed at Nico’s antics before the smaller boy dived back down and grabbed Will’s face, planting a hurried but intense kiss on his mouth.

“Thanks for telling me. I’m going to hold this against her forever when she tells me and you dramatically announce that you already knew. Then I’m going to look so betrayed and declare that she’s no sister of mine anymore.”

“You are so overdramatic. I can’t believe how grumpy and quiet you used to be,” Will laughed, pulling Nico back into his side. Nico finally sighed and settled in. He was still struggling to comprehend the information. He was going to be an Uncle and his sister had wanted to keep it secret from him.

“There’s more,” Will added. Nico looked at him a little frenzied.

“What could possibly top that news?” he asked.

“Hades has invited all four of us to the Underworld to celebrate the birth of his grandson,” Will sighed. Nico’s heart sped up a little in panic. Will and the Underworld was not a good combination, as Nico recently discovered.

The first time Will went to the Underworld was the Spring after Hades had invited him. Nico had figured it was safest to take him when Persephone wasn’t around. Nico wished he’d remained as cautious.

Will usually visited the Underworld every Spring. Hades was gradually attempting to infiltrate more and more of Nico’s life and, as he constantly reiterated, apparently Nico’s love life was integral. However, after Will officially finished his course and was allowed to intern at the hospital that Autumn=, Hades invited the pair down for a meal.

It turns out, Persephone does not like children of Apollo and children of Apollo are surprisingly adept at killing plants. Nico really hadn’t been expecting an invite back ever again.

“Are we going?” Nico asked, uncertainly. Will raised an eyebrow.

“I have no problem if she doesn’t mind,” he shrugged.

“Will, every time I go down there she asks me if I’ve broken up with you yet. She’s even actively sought me out whilst out of the Underworld to tell me to get rid of you,” Nico smirked.

“Really?” Will asked and his eyes looked surprisingly bright. It was almost as if he was proud of finally having found an immortal enemy.

“Yes. She still hates you,” Nico assured him. He pretended not to notice the small fist pump Will did out of respect for his boyfriend’s reputation.

“We could always just suggest we have the meal in the summer months, anyway, even if the baby’s born when Persephone’s there,” Will shrugged. Nico raised an eyebrow.

“That seems a bit illogical. It would just be a meal for the sake of a meal,” he pointed out. Will shrugged.

“Hades has a surprisingly good chef. I don’t mind.”

Nico shook his head in exasperation when suddenly, a bright light caught his attention.

“Will, it’s starting,” he gasped excitedly.

“What’s starting?” Will queried. Nico grinned at him.

“There’s a meteor shower tonight. I brought you here so we could watch it,” he explained. Will gasped up at the sky as another light shot across it and then turned to smile at Nico.

“You’re such a sap,” he pointed out, “but thank you. This is a nice surprise.”

Nico curled up against Will’s side with his head on his shoulder as Will rested his own head on Nico’s, gazing up at the sky as he curled his arm around Nico’s back. It strangely reminded Nico of the position they’d been in the very first time they sat together to watch the sky. It had been a campfire night and Will had invited Nico. Nico had been so tired he hadn’t even registered what he’d been doing when he curled up against Will. Knowing what he knew now, he supposed Will hadn’t minded.

The two watched the meteors flash across the sky in silence for a while before Will spoke up.

“I can sense that there’s a reason you brought me to the meteor shower. Like, I feel as though I’ve forgotten an inside joke or something,” he muttered. Nico shifted slightly to turn and face him.

“Well, it was a long time ago, now, but when we first went to the campfire together during the summer we got together, I was so sleepy I traced your freckles and tried to tell you that they looked like a myriad of stars,” Nico smiled, bringing his finger up to once again trace Will’s freckles, “now the stars remind me of you so I wanted to bring you to see this.”

Will’s eyes melted as he gazed back at Nico.

“Every time I think you can’t get any more romantic, you go and pull off something like this. How am I supposed to top this?” he sighed, moving to cup Nico’s face. Nico felt his heart rate increase tenfold. Will had given him a perfect opening. The meteor shower was still raining above them in the stars. Now was the time.

The small, black box in his jacket pocket felt as if it was burning a hole through the fabric.

“Well,” Nico started, noting how short his breath was, “you could say yes.”

“What?” Will asked in confusion, his eyes going wide as he watched Nico get to his feet. Nico pulled the box out of his pocket and knelt down onto one knee, opening the box to present the ring he’d spent hours pondering over with Piper, Reyna and Annabeth. There was no backing down, now.

“William Solace,” he started, glancing at Will tentatively and noticing that he already had tears forming in his eyes, “when I first met you, I thought you were an idiot. Not because you were stupid, but because, for some strange reason, you wanted to be friends with me. You were persistent, infuriating and I thought I’d manage to scare you away within a day. I’d clearly underestimated just how persistent and infuriating you were because you stuck around. You always have stuck around. I was in such a dark place when you first met me and you stuck around to help pull me out. Whenever I doubted myself, you stuck around and assured me that I was safe, that I was enough and that I was loved. When someone sticks around that much, it’s hard not to fall in love with them, and falling in love with you was one of the easiest things I’ve ever done in my life. I fall more in love with you every day and-“ Nico paused to sniff. He was crying. “-and I want that to continue for the rest of my life. I want to be with you for the rest of my life. I want to wake up every morning with you by my side so I can tell you how incredible you are, how kind you are, how impressive you are and how amazing your mom’s pancakes are. I promise that’s not the only reason why I’m asking this, but Will, will you marry me?”

Nico wiped his eyes with his free hand the second he finished only to see Will in a similar state, tears pouring freely down his cheeks.

“Nico,” he sighed, “do you even have to ask? Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes I will marry you and I am so mad that you beat me to it but I suppose I can forgive you because of the speech you just gave.”

“I’ve had it memorised for a month,” Nico laughed through his tears. Will’s laughter soon joined his own and before he could even move to stand up or sit down, Will had leapt on top of him and was kissing him. It was salty and messy and their lips were hardly touching because of how much they were both laughing, but Nico didn’t think they’d ever shared a more perfect kiss.

“You are so incredible, Nico di Angelo. I love you so much,” Will announced when the two finally finished laughing. Nico pushed them up into a sitting position rather than being sprawled out on the grass.

“I love you too,” he added. Will glanced down at the ring still stored in the little box Nico had been clutching so tightly.

“This is beautiful. I hope you like the one I bought for you,” Will sighed as Nico took his hand and gently slid the ring onto his finger.

“You already bought me one?” Nico asked. Will rolled his eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Obviously!” he said, “you’re not the only one that wanted to get married, y’know.”

“I’m glad,” Nico smiled, resting his head against Will’s. Will cupped his cheek and pressed their lips together once again, his lips curving up against Nico’s in a smile.

This time, Nico kissed him back properly rather than laughing, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend- no, fiancé-’s neck to pull him closer. Will wrapped his arms around Nico’s waist, his thumbs sliding underneath Nico’s shirt so that he could slide a hand up onto Nico’s bare back.

Nico could feel the cold metal of Will’s new ring on his finger against his skin. He pressed further into the kiss, holding Will as tightly as he could. Right there, Nico wasn’t afraid of the future at all. He was going to marry Will. For a son of Hades, Nico’s life was pretty incredible.

He wouldn’t change one bit of it for the world.

[thesibyllinebooks]

The New Yorkers (Part 21)

Frank gave Annabeth a gracious smile as he opened the door to let her in. “Good morning,” he said. Annabeth stepped in. 

“Hey, Frank.” 

Frank was the only person whose neatness could rival her own. The only decoration in the apartment save for a few metals and awards were photographs of himself and Hazel, and some old pictures of his mom and grandmother. 

“Hazel’s finishing up in the kitchen,” Frank explained. Annabeth could smell food and she heard the faucet running. Hazel stood in the kitchen, finishing up the dishes. There were three places set at the table.

“Morning, Annabeth,” Hazel said, turning around. She wiped her wet hands on a towel hanging on the stove. “You’re just in time.”

“Oh, Hazel, you didn’t have to make me breakfast,” Annabeth said.

Hazel shrugged. “It was my turn to make breakfast anyway. What’s an extra plate? And besides, I thought pancakes could soften the blow of whatever’s stressing you out.”

Annabeth and Frank sat at the table. Hazel joined them with forks. For a long time, Annabeth sat and ate her pancakes. That was much better than rehashing the script she’d come up with in her head to ask- or beg, if she had to- Hazel for her help. She stared at the bowl of gleaming red pomegranates in the middle of the table.

Hazel caught her staring. “Nico brought those a couple days ago from Propserpina’s... um Persephone’s garden. Aren’t they beautiful?”

“And poisonous,” Frank added. 

“To you. So,” Hazel started slowly. “What’s the matter? When you called you sounded stressed out.

Annabeth swallowed. She sipped her orange juice to help the fact that her throat suddenly went dry. “I, uh well... I got a visit from Athena yesterday,” Annabeth started slowly. 

“How was that?” Frank asked.

“Well, not good, or else Annabeth wouldn’t have called me beside herself,” Hazel reminded her fiance. She turned back to Annabeth. “You can tell us.”

Annabeth knew there were few people on the planet she could trust more. After sailing to Europe with them to defeat Gaea, Annabeth realized the Roman demigods had unmatchable courage. Besides that, they were genuinely so calm and caring it made Annabeth thankful to have such good friends.

“Well, there’s a war starting... on Olympus,” Annabeth started. “A mutiny against Zeus.”

“Gods,” Hazel said. Her shoulders tensed. “That’s not good.”

Frank’s dark eyebrows knitted together. “That’s funny... because my dad said something about a war. Didn’t mention it was on Olympus. Why would the gods want to overthrow Jupiter?”

“I could think of a few reasons,” Annabeth said shortly. “Ares is one of them. And so is Hades. And Hephaestus and Hermes. It was Poseidon’s idea.” Annabeth thought about her mother’s visit. It almost brought tears to her eyes. She firmly reminded herself she’d fix everything with Percy. That was why she was here.

Hazel looked dumbfounded. “I wonder if Jason knows...”

“I doubt it. But you mean to say that your mom- that Minerva is going to defend Jupiter?” Frank asked slowly. Annabeth couldn’t read his expression.

Annabeth nodded. “She said she’s going to defend her father. And she’s not going to turn her back on thousands of years of tradition. But she said something else- she said that she knows Percy and Poseidon are close, and he’ll do anything to defend him.”

“It’s true,” Hazel nodded. “Neptune talks to Percy way more than our fathers talk to us.” Annabeth knew that her relationship with her father was strained. Ares wasn’t exactly the nurturing type either.

“It all makes sense,” Frank said suddenly.

“What does?” Hazel and Annabeth said in unison. 

Frank took a deep breath. “A couple weeks ago, Percy came to talk to me. Poseidon had visited him and told him to stay away from you. Said Athena said the same thing to you,” Frank explains. “If they’re rivals, and now on opposite sides of this war, of course there’s no way they’d want you together.”

“That’s awful,” Hazel said sympathetically. “You can Percy were just starting to get along. You look so cute together.”

Annabeth looked at her friends. They were lucky at least that their parents were on the same side. So were Jason and Piper. She knew what she was about to say was going to sound absolutely insane.

“The thing is, we’ve been together,” Annabeth said. Speaking the words out loud hit her with a wave of emotion.

It was clear Hazel and Frank didn’t understand what she was saying. “Huh?” Frank asked.

Annabeth gripped her fork tightly. “Athena told me yesterday that I met Percy when I was twelve. We went to camp together, fought together, became friends, fell in love- he went on the quest with all of us. She used The Mist to get rid of my memory of him because she thought I’d help him and Poseidon fight against Zeus.” Annabeth took a shaky breath.

Hazel looked heartbroken. At least she didn’t think Annabeth was a nutjob. Frank looked like he was trying his hardest to be sympathetic, but was still very confused. 

“So you and Percy were dating?” Frank asked. “This whole time?”

Annabeth shrugged lamely. “Apparently. I can’t remember.”

“And he was with us the entire quest?”

Annabeth nodded again. “And he was with me in Tartarus.” Annabeth felt tears at the backs of her eyes. 

Frank still didn’t seem sold. “But how is it possible that we remember doing those things with you...but we also separately remember doing them with Percy?” He looked like his head was going to explode.

“Oh, stop interrogating her,” Hazel said. She reached across the table to squeeze Annabeth’s hand. “The Mist is powerful. It can create multiple versions of reality and have you thinking so many different things are true at the same time. I just can’t believe I didn’t realize or I didn’t sense anything- oh, Annabeth...”

Annabeth’s lip trembled. The look of realization on Hazel’s face almost broke her. She knew what she was asking seemed crazy, especially since she didn’t have any evidence herself.

“Hazel, I didn’t know who else to ask. You’re the only demigod I know who can control The Mist, and you have Hecate’s blessing, so maybe you’re stronger than my mother- and if I had someone else to ask I promise I would. The last thing I wanted to do was involve you...” Annabeth sniffled. 

Hazel and Frank shared a grim look. Without hesitation, Hazel nodded. “I’ll do what I can,” she said. “I can’t promise you anything but of course, I’ll try. I’ll make an offering to Hecate this evening, and hopefully that’ll put me in her good graces.”

Annabeth wanted to cry out with relief. “Hazel, I can’t thank you enough.”

“You don’t have to,” Hazel assured her. “I’d do anything to help you Annabeth.”

“You said Athena wiped your memories in the first place because she was afraid of what you’d do for Percy. Do you think you’ll do anything rash?” Frank asked.

“I don’t know,” Annabeth admitted. “I don’t think so. But I don’t know how much I love him. I don’t know how much I used to love him. But if there’s a way to find out, I can’t not try.”

Frank nodded with understanding. “I mean, if my father and Hazel’s were going at it, I’d do whatever it took to keep Hazel safe, no questions asked. So it’s only fair Athena would assume the same,” Frank said. “But it’s your choice what you do for Percy, not hers.” Annabeth couldn’t agree more.

Hazel gave Frank a quick smile and turned back to Annabeth. “We’ll figure this out, I promise.”

***

Percy sat on the couch and tried to keep himself from cracking his laptop in half. He’d been staring at the tiny letters on the screen for a while now. His dyslexia wasn’t making filling out any of the perfunctory work forms any easier. It was starting to get late and Percy felt his eyes drooping shut. He’d had a long day at work. A good, productive day but a long one.

His dreams were odd. They were all about Annabeth. When they were in the back of a zoo truck as kids, swimming in the lake at camp together, kissing at the bottom of the lake in Camp Half-Blood... the dreams felt familiar to Percy, almost as if they were memories. 

A hard, heavy beating on the door woke Percy up. He closed his laptop and set it next to him. He got up to answer the door. For some reason, he felt more alert, and different somehow.

As soon as the door opened, Percy was ambushed. Annabeth’s arms squeezed around him tightly. Her hug felt just as much like home as Paul and Sally’s place. Annabeth kicked the door shut. She squeezed Percy so tight he felt like his eyes were going to pop out of his head. He didn’t care.

His senses were heightened. He noticed every little thing about Annabeth. Suddenly, he remembered smelling that linen-lemony smell all over her for years. He remembered years of battles with her, some he even wished he could forget. He remembered playing Capture the Flag alongside Annabeth, and her readjusting the straps on his armor whenever they were crooked. He remembered sailing to Greece with her and worst of all, he remember the long, hard fall into Tartarus. Thankfully, things had gotten better for them. Percy remembered graduating high school, ice skating in the wintertime, hanging out with Annabeth at his mom’s, and a lot of kissing. 

He pulled back from Annabeth so that he could take a good look at her. Even though she looked the same as always, she looked different. He felt like he recognized her more. He could finally understand that calculating, challenging expression in her eyes. He’d been looking at it for years. 

“I don’t... what... how?” Percy said dumbly, looking at his girlfriend. Was girlfriend even the right word? Annabeth was part of him, much more than someone he just hung out with and went on the occasional date with. He knew Annabeth just as well as he knew himself.

Before she answered him, Annabeth put her hands on Percy’s cheeks and kissed him. “I love you,” she said. Her eyes pooling with tears. “I love you so much, Percy. Athena came to me yesterday. She wiped our memories, she used The Mist-”

“I’m starting to wonder how many times a goddess can wipe my memory,” Percy said bitterly. “Why this time?”

Annabeth took Percy’s hand and guided him to his couch. She didn’t let him go. She didn’t want to. Never again. “Because she knows how much I love you and would do anything for you. And because... your father wants to overthrow Zeus.”

Percy stared at Annabeth blankly. He couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth, even though he knew she wasn’t a liar. He tried to focus on the feeling of her hand in his so that he didn’t have to think about her revelation. Percy knew his father and the King of the Gods didn’t get along, but he’d never think Poseidon would start a full-out mutiny. And why was it that Athena had told Annabeth, and Poseidon hadn’t told him? He knew he spoke to his father far more than Annabeth spoke to her mother. 

Percy took a deep breath. He looked at Annabeth cuddled on the couch under him, looking up at him intently as if she planned to never look away from him. “I don’t- I don’t know anything about that. Let’s not worry about that right now. I mean, we just got our memories of each other back, that’s what I want to focus on.”

“You have Hazel to thank. She made an offering to Hecate, and I guess she helped her-”

“Well, it’s official then,” Percy said with a shrug. “We owe Hazel our firstborn child.”

Annabeth laughed. “I just can’t believe everything we’ve been through. Imagine, we go through hell and back- literally- all to never actually reunite because you decide to ruin my shirt with a taco. And not apologize for it.”

Percy laughed at the thought. He couldn’t believe he’d all but hated Annabeth at one point. Sure they bickered, but not as much as they had when they’d met again months ago. “I mean, if I can get over how annoying you are twice, then obviously it’s destiny.” Annabeth slapped his shoulder. He kissed her in return. 

Annabeth bit her lip. Her stormy expression returned. “But what if that hadn’t happened? If we’d never run into each other again, if Piper and Jason hadn’t set us up, if you hadn’t exploded sewage all over me, we wouldn’t have gotten together. We wouldn’t have realized that we’ve already spent almost half our lives together,” she persisted.

Percy knew she was right, But still, he was just so happy to have Annabeth back he couldn’t bring himself to focus on what could have been. “It’s what The Fates wanted. And sometimes they have more power than the gods.”

“You’re right,” Annabeth sighed with resignation. She wrapped her arms around Percy.

“What? Me, right?” Percy asked in disbelief.

“For once, Seaweed Brain” Annabeth agreed, smirking. 

“We should do something to celebrate,” Percy suggested.

“Celebrate?” Annabeth repeated. 

“Yeah, it’s not every day I get my memory of you back. It’s been like, five years since that happened last. We should see a movie, or go take a walk-”

“Right here is fine, Percy,” Annabeth assured him. 

Percy smiled down at Annabeth. He was fine with that. After all, if they’d spent a hundred nights cuddling together on the couch, what was one-hundred-and-one?

“Well, are you hungry? I could make some dinner,” Percy offered. Unfortunately, now Annabeth would remember he was a miserable cook. 

Annabeth shook her head. She squeezed Percy tighter like she was hanging on for dear life. “My mom was right,” Annabeth whispered, even though she knew knew Percy didn’t want to talk about things. “If it comes down to it, I’ll fight with you. I’m not letting you go again. We promised each other that.”

Percy nodded slowly. He still wasn’t sure how he felt about his father’s actions. If it meant keeping Annabeth safe, he’d take a backseat. 

“Annabeth, we don’t even know for sure what it’s going to come down to. And until we do, I don’t want to worry. I just want to keep feeling like we’ve made it and all this is behind us for a second, even if it isn’t.”

Annabeth nodded understandingly. “Okay, we can do that.” She kissed Percy again. He knew it would be a matter of time before his relationship with Annabeth went back to normal- all the bickering, the late nights falling asleep watching Annabeth study, her complaints on how dirty and disorganized his bedroom was. He was ready for all of it- scratch that, excited. 

[everykindofnerd13]

So basically, they’re not demigods, they’re just magical creatures, and they did go through the two wars, but this is EXTREMELY different from canon, so just, take what you will from it. Two camps, not different gods, shifters, vampires, demons, met people, all that Jazz. Luke isn’t evil! Yay! I just really wanted Annabeth to have a good role model camp buddy so yee.

Nico glared at all the happy couples surrounding him. Most of them he didn’t know, then the only two left were his best friend Jason, and his girlfriend Reyna and the other couple was the one Nico wanted to see the least.

Perseus Jackson. And his very long-time girlfriend Annabeth Chase. It wasn’t like Nico resented Annabeth for anything, how could he blame her for falling in love with him, if Nico couldn’t see anything wrong with him. That didn’t change the fact that Nico was in love with Percy Jackson, but there was no doubt that Percy was not at all interested in Nico. After all, He still saw Nico as the ten year old Italian kid he saved. Nico couldn’t blame him for it either. When they’d met Nico had been immature, nerdy, and very childish. But what do you expect from a ten year old?

He glared at the happy golden couple of the two camps. After Piper and Jason has worked things out after the war and figured out they weren’t right for eachother, Nico found himself hoping maybe Annabeth and Percy would come to the same conclusion. But alas, it had been three years since the Giant War’s end and still here Nico stood, alone and Percy-less.

He’d tried to date other people, tried to get over Percy with new relationships. But that felt too selfish for him. The first boyfriend he’d taken was Will Solace and that probably felt the worse. Because Will was an incredible person, and he deserved someone who loved him, not someone trying to get over someone else. It was cruel to stay with him. So Nico had explained to Will what was going on in his head and broken up with him, and to his surprise, Will had only pulled him into a hug and said that he understood, that it was okay to hurt for someone.

The next boyfriend Nico took was Ethan Nakamura. Nico had managed to convince himself he was over Percy at that point and he had grown far too close to Will to even think of asking him out again, it’d be too similar to asking out Hazel. So, Nico had pursued the attractive Asian from Camp Jupiter, but after about a month, Nico realised that just wasn’t right either, because he was comparing Ethan to Percy every chance he got. After also explains to Ethan what had happened, and getting a surprising similar response to Will’s Nico resigned to eternal loneliness. Loneliness and Pain. For all of Eternity, because he had made the awful mistake of accepting immortality, and not checked to see if any of the others offered had been as well.

Percy had accepted immortality, alongside Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Reyna, Clarisse, Chris, Will, Jake, Hazel, Frank, Leo, Luke, Octavian, Bianca, Thalia. Basically everyone who fought alongside Nico in their war had been gifted and accepted immortality. So now, Nico was stuck with Percy Jackson for eternity, having to watch him be hopelessly in love with Annabeth.

Which Nico couldn’t blame Percy for either. Sure Annabeth has a few flaws but she was beautiful. Sun-kissed skin, bright blonde hair and intense grey eyes. She was built like a goddess, and she was confident. They’d been through literal hell and back together, but Nico couldn’t help but be jealous. A tiny selfish part of him wished that they’d just fall apart unexpectedly. But that would be selfish, exactly what his mother had worked hard to teach him was wrong all those years ago.

“Nick, you good?” Jason asked from beside him, swishing around the alcoholic drink that Reyna kept preventing Nico from drinking, he was only 19.

“Yeah, yeah sorry, I-Uh...” Nico blanched, he didn’t have a reason for his abnormal activity, “I spaced out...” he mumbled and looked at the very non-alcoholic coke he was holding, and swished it around too. Jason furrowed his brows but didn’t question it and just went back to his conversation with Reyna.

For another 15 minutes Nico sat there next to his friends while they talked before Percy and Annabeth approached. And, despite not being dressed up at all, Nico thought Percy looked absolutely gorgeous. His hair was tousled, probably from sleep, considering the man never bothered to fix it, and he was wearing a pair of jeans that hugged Percy’s athletic thighs in just the right way, and his chest was adorned with a white button down shirt that has the top three buttons open to reveal his chest. Nico held his breath, he didn’t want to talk for fear of accidentally saying something he didn’t want to.

“Hey guys!” Percy greeted as they approached, one hand laid around Annabeth’s waist. Nico only waves silently while Jason immediately struck up a conversation with the water nymph. Nico kept his eyes on his cup. He only stayed a few minutes longer before pulling Reyna down to whisper in her ear.

“Hey, I’m not feeling good, I think I’m gonna head home.” He then let go and she looked at him with a knowing and sympathetic look. Currently, basically the only people who didn’t know that Nico was hopelessly in love with Percy and had been since he was ten were Percy himself and Annabeth, not that they should or would ever find out. He nodded at her before taking a step back, just out of the light and disappearing into the shadows. Just before he lost sigh of the group he saw Percy laugh then down to kiss Annabeth, Nico felt himself almost get sick. Not because those two kissing was gross, he wasn’t a child anymore, but because watching the person you’ve been in love with for as long as you’ve been aging kids another person can take a real toll on your heart, and in repspomse your stomach.

“Nico?” Will asked when he saw his best friend appear in the corner of the living room. Nico was dazed for only a moment before he took off and ran toward his bedroom. Will looked after him concerned before leaning up to peck Jake on the lips then running after his roommate.

Will had rejected the party invitation in favor of spending a date night with Jake, and while he didn’t regret it, maybe it would have been better to just bring Jake to the party judging by the sound of vomiting coming from Nico’s personal bathroom. Will burst through the door and started rubbing Nico’s back and humming, grabbing a few pins from the sink counter and holding back Nico’s hair with them. When Nico finally stopped throwing up what looked like only water and maybe a little soda, he rested his arms on the toilet and sat his face on rope before beginning to sob.

Will’s eyes widened comically in panic as he began to whisper encouragements to Nico. He didn’t think that Nico would have done anything too stupid and Reyna didn’t ever let him drink, so Will was just searching for a reason for Nico to be so upset. Jake came to the bathroom door after a while and stood in the doorway looking also worried. Will folded his three middle fingers into his palm and held his hand to his ear, silently asking for his phone. Jake nodded and left the doorway to retrieve it while Will turned to look at Nico.

“Neeks?” He asked pitifully. Nico took a deep breath and looked at Will with blood shot eyes and an obviously tear stricken face. His answer was accompanied by a hoarse rasp form the vocal stress of vomiting.

“Will...” he muttered before beginning to cry again. Will shook his head sadly and pulled Nico into his arms. Cooing softly to soothe his bestfriend. When Jake returned Will took his phone and opened Notes, quickly typing in the names of Nico’s closest friendship circle. Then he handed the phone back, pointed at it and did the phone gesture again. Name nodded and took off to go call everyone on the list.

“Nico, please tell me what’s wrong. I can’t help you if you don’t.” He tried. Nick cried and looked up at him, a completely heartbroken look that Will was far too familiar with playing on his features. And he immediately knew what it was. Will wrapped his arms around Nico again, rubbing his back and running his fingers through his hair.

“Why is it so unfair Will...” Nico cried into his bestfriend’s chest and Will only held him tighter.

“Why don’t I get a happy ending like all of you...” he was genuinely sobbing now, holding onto the sides of Will’s jacket in a death grip. It was something Will had associated with these kind of things by now. It was how Nico grounded himself so that he wouldn’t spiral in self doubt.

“Nico...” Will muttered and kisses the top of Nico’s head, “You will get your happy ending, you just have to be patient.” Nick shook his head rapidly and shoved Will away.

“No! No! You say that everytime and somehow, it only hurts more the more I see him! I can’t let go and I don’t know why but I don’t think I even want to! It’s impossible! The only way I’d ever get over Percy Jackson is if I forgot him all together!” During his little rampage, the people on Will’a list arrived. Bianca, Hazel, Frank, Ethan, Alabaster, Lou, Cecil, Jason, and Reyna.

“That could be arranged, Alabaster announced, and everyone turned to him.

“What? I’m a mage right? And Nico is a demon, we both have psychic powers meaning I can make him feel forget anything, even Percy’s whole existence.” Nico looked up hopefully but he was quickly shut down by Will’s voice.

“Absolutely not.” He exclaimed. He stood up, letting go of Nico and poked Alabaster in the chest.

“I know how all that stupid memory magic works and it’s not safe! He may not remember Percy but he’d see him again and that would hurt his head, he’d get a mind numbing headache every time he caught sight of the guy!” Will exclaimed, backing Alabaster into Nico’s bedroom.

“So I’ll move away.” Nico reasoned and everyone turned to look at him.

“What?” Will asked and Nico shrugged.

“I stay here because I love you guys, not... well, I don’t technically need you guys, even though you’re really helpful.” Nico explained then he looked up at the mixture of shocked and hurt faces on his friends and sister’s faces, “Will! You’d get to live alone with Jake! You wouldn’t have to deal with me anymore! And it’s not like I’d forget about you guys I could still come and visit you.” Ethan, Will, and Nico’s sisters all glared.

“If you make one more suggest like that Niccoló, I will not hesitate to lock you in this room surrounded by white leds and with no windows for the rest of your eternal life.

“That sounds better than having to hurt like this everytime I go out.” Nico explained and fell back on his bed.

“Don’t say stuff like that!” Hazel shouted and slapped Nico’s arm, “You act like you’re completely oblivious to everything everyone feels except for Percy! Don’t you see that we all love you! Why can’t you understand that you disappearing would hurt us a whole lot more than it would help you!?” Hazel was crying now and Nico frowned deeply before pulling her down into a hug on his bed, which everyone slowly joined.

“I’m sorry,” Nico apologized, “that I said those things. I know that you guys love me, and I love you too, but I’m just... I’m so tired of hurting...”he said and began to cry. Hazel hugged him tighter and so did Bianca.

“What do we do?” Jason asked and Will sighed in defeat, the first to speak up was Ethan.

“We could always try love-cursing Percy.” He suggested earning a glare from Nico.

“Absolutely not, those things are evil. I’m not gonna force myself on Percy if he’s not interested in me.” Which caused Ethan to sigh before Bianca spoke up.

“We plan better. We keep them away from eachother, if Percy is going somewhere, we plan something different, we work our schedules around it.”

“No, I will work my schedule around him, you guys will do whatever the hell you want.” Nico protested and glared at his friends. They all conceded then headed back out to the living room to watch movies all together. Lou invited Cecil over, and Hazel and Bianca also invited their significant others and they all fell asleep in cuddle piles about Nico, Will, and Jake’s living room.

——————————————————————————

It wasn’t for another four months that Nico saw Percy again. He had been sitting in his room drawing at his desk when there was a sudden knock at the door. Nico groaned and stood up to open it. He felt his heart practically drop into his stomach at the sight of the water nymph on his doorstep. He swallowed the lump welling in his throat.

“H-hey Percy...” he greeted him faintly and was met by a glare that Nico never wanted to catch again. He blinked back tears as he leaned against the door.

“Can I Uh, can I get you something? Will and Jake are out right now if you need me to take a message I will.” Nico said, still no response from Percy.

“I know that Will and Jake are our. I made sure of it before I came over. I can to talk to you.” Percy’s voice was sharp, cutting, painfully aimed at Nico.

“Uh, yeah, yeah sure.” Nico steppes out of the way, letting the older, attractive nymph into his home.

“So... um,” Nico didn’t know why to say he didn’t want to say anything. Percy had just shown up on his doorstep, looking angry after Nico had been avoiding him for two months so Nico didn’t see any reason he should be over here so angry. Until it hit him. Maybe Percy knew, maybe Percy knew that Nico was in love with him, and he was disgusted, and he was here to tell Nico to never come near him again. Nico swallowed and again and took a shaky breath.

“What’s wrong with you?” Percy asked vindictively and Nico looked up in shock, even though he’d been readying himself for the pain.

“What?” He asked meekly and Percy rolled his eyes.

“Don’t try to be cute here Di Angelo, I know you’ve been avoiding me and I wanna know why. Why are you avoiding me, refusing to go anywhere I go, rejecting my attempts to hang out with you as much possible, I’m not stupid Nico.” Percy explained and Nico glared at him.

“I’m perfectly aware that you aren’t stupid Perseus.” He argued and Percy glared angrily.

“Then what is it? What did I do to make you hate me?” He asked, words so sharp they felt genuinely painful to Nico.

“I don’t hate you Percy.” Nico whispered, standing behind the couch while Percy sat in the arm chair.

“Then...” Percy’svoice broke and Nico looked up to find tears in his eyes, “Why are you not talking to me?” He asked and Nico sighed. This was it. This was how he was gonna get left behind by Percy Jackson.

“Because I’m in love with you! It’s not good for you or for me for us to spend times together! You’re in a relationship Percy! And I’m just a kid! You’ve always thought of me as Bianca’s little brother and I know that! But I’ve always thought of you as the greatest thing in the world! Okay! So why would you want to be around a kid you’ve known for 9 years that has had a crush on you since then when you’re in a happy relationship! That’s uncomfortable Percy!” Nico shouted and Percy looked on in shock, suddenly Nico broke down sobbing, falling to the floor, nowhere near enough focus to try to shadow travel.

“Oh Nico...” Percy whispered as he approached and wrapped his arms around Nico who flinched before leaning into the nymph’s touch, “I don’t feel uncomfortable around you, I can’t imagine feeling like you’re a home wrecker. And I don’t think think of you as a little kid any more either. Nico, you fought in two wars, you were only ten during the first one. You were 14 by the end of it. You’re not a kid, you may have been a kid at one point, I can see that that you’ve grown up, okay?” Nico was still crying into Percy’s chest. So he felt it when Percy took a labored breath.

“I’m not in a happy relationship. I haven’t been in a relationship for about three months now and I haven’t been happy with Annabeth in almost a year. Though I think we both realised the pain when we left Tartarus. Annabeth and I love eachother, but there was never anything more than platonic love between us. I would walk to the ends of the earth for her, but I wouldn’t marry her. We weren’t a match, depite what everyone thought. I think they just wanted the fairytale ending. It always seemed like everyone was pushing us together. Our parents, the rest of the counsel, Gaea even seemed convinced that we were meant to be. Which wasn’t true... I was a kid Nico, I didn’t have the capacity to fight against it when everyone seemed to be pushing myself and someone I loved into a relationship. And I think I liked Annabeth for real at first. I think a lot of things I know. But it’s true, I think that when I was just twelve years old and there was this California girl Barbie taking care of me my first night of camp. She was strong and independent, and she just seemed so amazing to me, which she is. And I think I was definitely in love at first, but now, I’m 22 and even when we’re 16 and we crawled out of Tartarus together, I think I knew that we were drifting. Which is insane, because that means we were so pressured in our relationship that we stayed together for 6 years... she didn’t deserve that, and if I’m honest, neither did I, so we broke it off a few weeks ago. We still live together, in separate rooms. I don’t know if I’d function right without her. But I love Annabeth, and we jut weren’t meant to be.”

Nico was completely shocked by all of Percy’s ranting, forced to look on in awe as Percy talked about how he wasn’t in love Annabeth and he had been pressured into an unhappy relationship.

“Who have you told?” Nico asked and Percy flusher.

“Uh, only you, we decided we’d tell you all together, but since you were... avoiding me we never got the chance...” Percy explained and Nico huffed angrily.

“Really Perce? Six years of me being in pain while you and Annabeth weren’t actually happy? Really?” Percy chuckled weakly and rubbed Nico’s back.

“In my defense, you didn’t exactly act like you liked me.” Nico glared and Percy smiled sheepishly.

“Did we not already go over the fact that I didn’t want to be a home wrecker?” Percy laughed again and Nico’s heart swelled. He hadn’t heard that laugh caused by him in at least three years now.

“Well, then we better get up so you can tell the others huh?” Nico suggested while standing up. Percy however, stayed on the ground looking at Nico in pure disbelief.

“What?” He asked and Nico raised an eyebrow.

“We need to go back to your place so that you can invite everyone over and tell them that you and Annabeth broke up.” Nico said exasperatedly and held out his hand. Percy took it, but instead of pulling himself up, he pulled Nico down, into his lap.

“Dammit Di Angelo, what do I have to say for you to understand that I like you too!” Nico blinked dumbfoundedly for a moment before they widened and he pushed away from Percy landing on the floor.

“Perseus Jackson. Do not toy with my heart like that. Don’t. I can’t take it. I’ve been considering drastic things for weeks. You can’t say things like that.” Nico brought his arm up to his eyes and wiped away his tears. Percy looked just as surprised at Nico’s reaction as he stood up and backed Nico up against the couch so he could look into the Demon’s eyes.

“I mean it Nico. I like you too. I know it might be hard to believe, but I thought you weren’t into me, I thought you disliked me for a lot longer than I thought you hated me.” Nico blinked again and rubbed his eyes.

“Percy...” Nico muttered and tried to push Percy away, to no avail, the taller, larger male held his ground.

“Nico, I came out to you as Pansexual four years ago. Even before I told Annabeth. You know that I’m gay, why can’t you believe I like you?” Nico huffed and sighed and took a deep breath.

“Because I’m not worth it Percy. I could understand why you fell in love with her. Beautiful, intelligent, independent. She’s also your age, she helped you in our first quest. She was your first kiss. You went through Tartarus forever for gods’ sake!” Nico exclaimed while Percy stared at him, never breaking his gaze, “I’m not attractive, I’m short and pale and skinny, I’m not very independent, I’m honestly surprised everyone was willing to deal with me this long. I am three years younger than eachother and when we first met I got excited because yoh had the same name as a character on one of my mytho-magic cards. You were thrown into a situation where you had to deal with me because if you didn’t you would have looked like a monster for leaving these two vulnerable and confused children alone. Percy, I’m not... you’re wrong about your feelings. Why couldn’t you have fallen in love with Jason, or Luke! They’re both good, strong, tall, sensible, stable men! And I’m... me...” Percy rested his hands on Nico’s cheeks and rubbed his cheekbones with his thumbs.

“Nico, I love you because you are strong. You were only ten years old when your mother was killed in an act of jealousy and you were sent to live somewhere that would stop you’re aging almost all together. Then suddenly you’re brought out by people you don’t know, you nearly lose your sister, some of your greatest friends are potentially lost, and... apparently your crush, but then you find out you have another sister, you’re thrown into two wars before you were even in Highschool. Nico, you are so impressive, plus you’re cute. You’re hair is so long and shaggy and adorable and you’re small stature is super cute too.” Nick couldn’t help it, after Percy finished he leaned up and kissed Percy, after a moment of shock, Percy kissed back. After a few seconds, they both pulled away with dazed looks in their eyes.

“Oh my god! I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have done that!” Nico shouted as he covered his mouth.

“I kissed back didn’t I?” Percy protested and Nico nodded and Percy did as well.

“Exactly. I kissed you back because I like you.” Nico nodded and leaned up again, Percy quickly caught his lips in another kiss. When they pulled away Nico smiled then averted his eyes to the ground and frowned.

“So um, does this make us boyfriends or are you bullying me by admitting you like me and are now gonna say you can’t be in a relationship right now for the completely valid reason that you got out of a really long relationship just three months ago?” Percy laughed and pecked Nico’s nose.

“You’re cute when you ramble, and uh, if you want us to be boyfriends, we’re boyfriends, if you want to give me time and space then we’re friends who kiss, cause I’m not giving that up, damn, for a tiny gay Italian demon, you are soft all over.” Percy said as he pinched Nico’s cheek. Nico swatted the hand away before grabbing it and intertwining their fingers then kissing him again.

“Okay, but we can’t tell the others until at least three months from now so that they don’t think I’m a home wrecker...” Percy laughed and shook his head.

“How about, a month from now so that they don’t think you stopped avoiding me to date me? But they’ll know that Annie and I broke up three months ago. Hm?” Nico nodded and kissed Percy’s nose again. Percy laughed again pulled away from his smaller boyfriend.

“You’re so cute...” he muttered as he traced Nico’s cheek. One thing Percy may never understand is Nico’s facial structure. He’s truly beautiful. He still has the chubby cheeks of a child but his jawline and cheekbones could cut a steak. He’s just a beautiful sight. Probably due to his father’s incubus roots.

“Mmm, I could say the same about you.” Nico pointed out and poked Percy’s cheek. Percy smiled and turned toward the door as it opened.

Will’s eyes widened when he looked up and found a tear stricken but smiling Nico and an equally happy Nico. Will raised an eyebrow and stepped inside, setting down the groceries as he shut the door then approached his two friends, Nico was fidgeting sheepishly, but he looked considerably less gaunt than the last few months. Will was seriously considering forcing the two into a room to figure stuff out soon. But it seemed he didn’t need to.

“Hello boys...” He greeted them and approached with his arms crossed. He eyed Percy wearily and approached Nico, then grabbed his face and pulled it close to check for any marks or bruisers forming. He hummed and backed away once he knew Nico was fine then turned back to his grocery bags.

“Percy, you’re a big strong man and mine is gone, will you kindly go grab the ice bags for me?” Percy nodded dutifully and stepped outside while Nico approached to help Will start putting their groceries away.

“Nico.”he said pointedly and Nico sighed glaring at his friend.

“Really?” Nico asked and Will shrugged.

“In my defense you’ve been sulking around the house for four months now getting sadder by the day because you didn’t get to see Percy and also because you didn’t want to see Percy. Now he’s at our house, you’ve been crying and you’re both smiling.” Nico rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“He wanted to know why I’ve been avoiding him, I got too upset and it just kinda came out, he’s accepted it, and...” they turned to the door as Percy approached. He was huffing and the few blue scars on his cheek bones and forearms were glowing, meaning he was using his power. He wasn’t carrying a bag of ice and instead a block of ice that he’d apparently frozen in his hands. He stopped in his tracks as the house’s tenants looked at him confused.

“Uh, the bag broke... so I just kinda, willed only the water to lift, I promise nothing bad, it could be cleaner now than when you bought it honestly.” Will laughed opened the freezer. Slowly, cube by cube, Percy broke the large block apart and put it in the ice box.

“Thank you Percy, now, what were you two talking about before I came in. Nico Wilkes himself not to blush as he looked at Percy.

“Uh, wel, the reason Nico’s been avoiding me, which apparently only Annabeth and I were unaware of. And then we were talking about how I need you all to come to my house tonight for a special announcement. Will nodded and side-eyed Nico cautiously, checking for discomfort. Nick shook his head casually and waved a hand at him while Percy looked on in confusion.

“Can you two talk in motions?” He asked and Will turned back to Percy.

“It’s a skill obtained by most of our friend group. We generally use it around you or while someone is having a problem, anxiety attack, panic attack, PTSD episode, etc.” Will explained and Percy’s face screwed up.

“Good to know I’m on the same list as medical emergencies...” he muttered and Nico shook his head rapidly but before Nick could say anything Will was speaking up.

“Well, if Nico wasn’t a scaredy-cat who likes to convince himself that people will reject him for little things like,” Will was cut off by Nico.

“Like admitting to being in love with you for almost 10 years.” Nico scowled angrily at Will then pushed past his friend and grabbed Percy’s sleeve. He marched them both to his bedroom and collapsed on his bed rubbing angrily at his eyes. He was just so full of pent up aggravation that was suddenly running rampant.

“Woah! Neeks hey! Are you okay? I thought we already established, I don’t mind that you didn’t tell me, I know why you didn’t, it’s fine, I like you alright? I wanna try this.” Nico nodded and pulled Percy into a hug. The nymph landed on top of him with an “oof” then rolled them over so that Percy could tuck his head above Nico’s and entwine their legs.

“We have to tell Will, Percy...” Nico muttered and Percy nodded then kissed the top of Nico’s head.

“I understand. It’d be pretty hard to explain why you’re happy around me all of a sudden...” Percy trailer off and Nico wrapped his arms around his new lover.

“Percy... I’m sorry...” he muttered and buried his face in Percy’s chest, “I know that avoiding you was the last thing I should have done, but it was the last thing I did...” he muttered and Percy looked down at him pitifully.

“Nico... as much as I hated it, I can understand why you did it. Being around me while I was with Annabeth hurt after years of yearning. I can understand why, but can I ask you what you meant when you said you’d considered something drastic?” Nico groaned and hugged Percy tighter, like if he let go maybe Percy would disappear.

“I was so stupid Percy... I started to convince myself the only way to stop hurting was to forget. The night I decided that avoiding you was my best choice, I almost had Ethan make me forget you...” Nick explained and Percy’s eyes widened. He looked down at Nico, sadness in his eyes.

“I’m glad you didn’t...” Percy muttered.

“So am I...” Nico answered and slowly started to fall asleep in Percy’s arms.

[buoyantsaturn]

Tennis Court (1/1)

summary: “I can see it on your face, Will. You think he’s cute.”

For a second, Will tried to pretend that - what, that he didn’t have eyes? - but groaned and folded almost immediately. Kayla had always been able to see right through him (the most memorable time: Kayla was thirteen and Will was fifteen and Will said, "I’m going to ask that girl out on a date," and Kayla said, "no you’re not, you don’t even like girls," and Will, having recently only figured that out for himself but having not yet come out of the closet, kind of cringed and said, "okay, maybe you’re right, but we will not speak of this to anyone").

“Fine, okay, whatever, he’s cute,” Will said with a huff.

word count: 4966

read it on ao3

Will plopped down onto the couch next to his sister. He cradled a full bowl of cereal close to his chest as he nodded to her laptop. “What’re you watching?” he asked through a mouthful of cheerios.

“Youtube,” Kayla answered, shifting closer to her brother so he could watch the screen. She pointed at the girl in the video. “Look at her! All she vlogs about is fitness and makeup, and she’s gorgeous. Look at her eyeliner - so sharp it could kill a man - but she doesn’t need her eyeliner to kill a man because her arms could do it.”

Will glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “I thought I was the gay sibling.”

“No, you are,” Kayla assured him. “Doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate beauty, though.”

Will nodded. “So you just watch her videos for makeup techniques?”

“Sometimes. She also does videos with her roommate on occasion, those are pretty great,” Kayla told him. They watched the screen for another minute, before Kayla said, “Ooh, here he comes!”

Will watched the video with curiosity evident on his face as the girl on the screen - Reyna, it looked like from the video summary at the bottom of the page - called off screen, “Nico, can you come help me with something?”

After another second, a shaggy head of hair came through the doorway. “What is it?”

Reyna - who must’ve been in a rolling chair - slid to the side of the screen and gestured Nico over. Will could see him roll his eyes before fully entering the room, revealing a baggy t-shirt and flannel pajama pants, and taking a seat in front of the camera.

As Reyna set up the table that Will couldn’t see, Nico pulled his hair away from his face and into a ponytail. Now, Will could see dark eyes and pale skin and tiny freckles and Will was in love.

He had completely forgotten about his cereal when Nico closed his eyes and tipped his head up toward Reyna as she explained her makeup process and started dabbing some kind of cream on his skin.

“So, um,” Will started while Reyna rubbed the cream into Nico’s skin, effectively hiding each of his freckles and evening out his skin tone. “You said they’re roommates?”

“Yeah,” Kayla answered. “A lot of their fans think they’re dating, but they’ve never explicitly said they were, so I don’t believe it.”

Will nodded. “And how’d you find their videos?”

“I have a class with this girl named Hazel, and Nico’s her half-brother.” Kayla took the bowl out of Will’s hands and started eating the now-soggy cheerios. “Gross, you can’t even eat the good cereal. Anyway, we sit next to each other, and she was watching one of Nico’s videos one day and complaining the whole time about how dumb he is.”

“He looks dumb,” Will muttered in an awe-filled voice, eyes locked on where Reyna was lining Nico’s eyes with flawlessly pointed wings.

Kayla slammed the computer shut and placed both it and the bowl of cereal on the coffee table. “You think he’s cute,” Kayla stated, turning back to her brother who was wide-eyed and obviously startled.

“What? I never--”

“I can see it on your face, Will. You think he’s cute.”

For a second, Will tried to pretend that - what, that he didn’t have eyes? - but groaned and folded almost immediately. Kayla had always been able to see right through him (the most memorable time: Kayla was thirteen and Will was fifteen and Will said I’m going to ask that girl out on a dateand Kayla said no you’re not, you don’t even like girls and Will, having recently only figured that out for himself but having not yet come out of the closet, kind of cringed and said okay, maybe you’re right, but we will not speak of this to anyone).

“Fine, okay, whatever, he’s cute,” Will said with a huff and stood from the couch. “I have homework to finish for class tomorrow.”

Which was true. It was totally true and he really needed to do all that homework so that he could get into a good medical school in a couple years, but he also had a laptop in his room, a laptop that had internet access, which meant he could go on Youtube all day.

He started on Reyna’s channel, since he’d seen her handle and knew how to access it, and figured that he’d be able to find Nico’s channel from there. What he didn’t expect to find at Reyna’s channel, however, were her two newest videos: the first, which started playing as soon as he opened the page, had Reyna almost in tears as she picture-in-pictured fan videos on the bottom of the screen. Each of the fan videos were similar, all how Reyna had inspired them to get in shape and be the best me that I can be, but all of them, plus Reyna’s reactions, were the sweetest thing Will had ever seen.

The second video, however, was a shitstorm. While it was on Reyna’s channel, it started out with Nico standing in a kitchen holding a metal whisk and saying, “It’s cookie time.” Nico had gone on to explain that he’d somehow pissed off some guy (he clearly didn’t pay attention to much around him) and his sister had said to bake cookies for forgiveness.

“As I have never used an oven without adult supervision, and seeing as this is not my channel, Reyna will be helping me with the forgiveness cookies. I hope we still have an apartment after this is all over.”

It was clearly not in any way a professional video; one, because they had to keep referring to the recipe, even if it was triple checking that it was definitely one cup of flour, Nico, not the whole bag; two, Nico swore constantly, no matter what he was doing, but it was mostly when he was pouring things (it was shit when he cracked a bit of eggshell into the bowl, and holy shit, that’s gross, what the hell when he dug the bit of shell out of the mix with his fingers, and a few more assorted shits and damn its thrown around); and three, the final product was a mess: there had been three batches, the first of which they had forgotten the chocolate chips, but that batch had burned anyway, so they were a throwaway no matter what. The second batch was decent, still overcooked and with barely any chocolate. While those were cooking, Nico had dumped the rest of the chocolate chips they had into the batter, which left the third batch a mess.

From this video, Will found the link to Nico’s channel (TheGhostKing; Reyna’s was praetorRARA) and started his videos from the beginning. Almost.

The first few videos looked a little cringy, with terrible camera quality and an equally terrible hair cut, so Will skipped over those. He started instead, about ten videos in, with one titled I’m gonna collab w a ghost.

The video started with Nico, about two years younger than he was now though he didn’t look much different, sitting alone and explaining that he was going on a ghost hunt. “But not really a hunt because these ghosts haven’t done anything wrong; we’re just gonna talk to them.” After that, the video was mostly just night-vision shots of trees and the ground and Nico talking over it. It got quiet for a second and Nico shouted something, and then the camera hit the ground.

The screen lit up again and Nico was back in the room that the video had started in, though this time there were twigs in his hair and his face was smeared with dirt.

“So I didn’t find a ghost,” Nico said, wiping at his cheek with his equally dirty fingers and really just spreading the dirt around. “Turns out I had wandered out of the graveyard and into somebody’s back yard; I dunno, it was dark, I couldn’t really see anything. But yeah, they heard me shouting, and it’s like, three in the morning, so they weren’t very happy. They set their dog on me, but I’m good. I’m fine. Still gotta collab with that ghost, though.”

As the video ended, Will couldn’t help but think, I can’t believe he’s even cuter somehow.

Will had spent almost an entire day watching Nico and Reyna’s videos. One of Reyna’s - one that didn’t include Nico, however he was mentioned frequently - had particularly upset Will. It showed tons of screenshots of Youtube comments and Tumblr asks, all demanding to know the nature of Nico and Reyna’s relationship that they weren’t showing the audience. Reyna had - rightfully - acted disgusted at the comments, told everyone to mind their own business, and explicitly stated that her and Nico were friends and roommates and nothing more, and if anyone was watching for something other than makeup, fitness, or a plain-old good time, they were free to unsubscribe from her channel.

After watching that video, Will had scrolled through Nico’s from around that same date to see if he’d made his own comment on the matter, but the closest video to the date and time that Reyna’s was posted was one titled hella.

As far as Will could tell upon playing the video, it was just one where Nico sat and talked to the camera directly.

“I bet you’re wondering, hella what? Right? Lemme tell you,” Nico said, leaning in. “Hella gay. As in I am. Hella gay since birth, the gayest person you’ll ever meet, also the coolest person you’ll ever meet, but that’s not what we’re talking about right now. We’re talking about how incredibly gayI am, and how I’ve never dated a girl ever so we should quit suggesting that I have.

“Have I ever mentioned how not-straight I am? Have I ever even suggested that I was straight in any way? Nope, I don’t think so. Because I’m super gay. Have I ever told you about that time I snuck into a gay bar and got kicked out because I was only seventeen? Or about all the boys I’ve dated? Or the men I’ve had crushes on? How about all of those males I’m attracted to?

“Wow, it’s almost like it’s none of your business what my sexuality is, but when people start harassing my friends and coming up to me on the street and insisting on how super straight and in love with my roommate I am, I kind of feel like it’s necessary to make sure every single one of youknows that I’m super extremely gay.

“And I clearly don’t mean gay as in happy, okay? If you think that, then you’ve clearly never seen my face. I mean gay as in flaming homosexual,okay? Like, if I were on Will and Grace, Grace would be in love with me because of how super gay I am. For those of you that don’t have any idea what that is, it’s a super gay show from the nineties about a straight woman who always falls in love with closeted gays, and her gay roommate who’s super gay, just like me.

“Amazing, a gay man and a straight woman living in the same apartment in New York City, that sounds so familiar. Leave out the falls in love with gay men part, and you’ve got me and Reyna, imagine that! Just a single man who loves gay men, and a single woman who loves...whoever she loves. Honestly, I have no idea. Maybe nobody. Definitely not me. Not even platonic love. Reyna hates me.”

Nico glanced down at his bare wrist as if reading a watch. “Wow, would you look at the time, I’ve got somewhere gay to be, see you around.” And the video was over.

Will didn’t click on another video. He simply stared at the blank screen for a moment or seven before rolling out of bed and rushing into the living room.

“Kayla, I have a huge problem,” Will said as he stood in between his sister and the TV.

“Why do you always have to stand right in front of the screen like that?” Kayla groaned, but Will knew she would listen to him.

“Nico’s super gay and I think I love him a little bit.”

Kayla rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone. “Do you want me to ask Hazel if Nico wants to go out with you?”

Will jumped over the coffee table and fell onto the couch next to her. “Holy shit, would you do that for me?”

“Maybe,” Kayla said, eyes narrowing, “for a price.”

Will pouted. “Not money. Not homework, you know I can’t do your homework, I’ve tried. ”

“No, of course not,” Kayla told him. “Dishes for two months.”

Will rolled his eyes but agreed. “Ugh, fine. Whatever. Please, just talk to Hazel?”

“Alright, fine.”

“Thank you, Kayla!” Will lunged forward, wrapping his arms around her. “You’re the best sister I’ve ever had!”

“I’m the only sister you’ve ever had, get off of me, or I’ll reconsider.” She pushed Will off of her just as she sent a snap off to Hazel. “Alright, I’ve made contact. We’ll see what happens now.”

Hazel happened to be helping her brother film his next video. She didn’t really understand why she was there - sometimes Nico just asked her to be there to help fill in story details and sometimes they were in the middle of hanging out when Nico got a new idea. This time, she was simply watching him complain to the camera, and when she felt her phone buzz in her pocket, she fished it out.

It was a snapchat from Kayla, who sat next to her in one of her classes. The full message actually came across in about three snaps, all of a hardwood floor and read, my brother thinks your brother is cute, and he wants to know if nico is interested, and like in dating and being gay or whatever.

Hazel giggled, which drew Nico’s attention away from the camera.

“What are you laughing at?” Nico asked. “Are you snapchatting, what the hell. Now I have to find a place to cut and restart, Hazel, c’mon.”

In response, Hazel lifted her phone and took a picture of Nico’s glaring face, which she sent back to Kayla with, I’ll ask later, we’re filming now.

“Did she say anything yet?” Will asked impatiently, hugging his knees to his chest.

“Nope,” Kayla answered without checking her phone.

“Kayla! You didn’t even look!”

“You’re acting like a four year old, Will.”

“Whatever.” Will pouted, staying quiet for a few seconds before Kayla’s phone screen lit up. “Ahh! She answered!”

“What the hell, Will! Stop acting like a child,” Kayla told him as she picked up her phone. Will tugged on her arm until he could see the screen too, and Kayla opened the snap. It was a close up of Nico’s face, and he was glaring but kind of smiling at the same time, and Will could see his freckles so clearly that he forgot to read the message.

“Wait, I didn’t read it, what did it say?” Will asked when the image disappeared.

“She’s gonna ask him later, they’re busy.”

Will groaned and fell back against the arm of the couch.

“Hey, Nico,” Hazel started when they were sitting on the couch, watching cartoons.

“Yeah?” he answered, still looking at the screen.

“Those snapchats earlier? They were from a friend that wants to know if you’re interested in dating somebody,” Hazel told him. “That somebody being my friend’s brother.”

Nico glanced warily out of the corner of his eye. “What did you say?”

“That I’d ask you later because we were busy.”

Nico huffed. “Do you know anything about him? I’m not gonna agree to a date with some stranger, Hazel, especially if I don’t even know what he looks like.”

“Well, his name’s Will, he’s pre-med, and has a sister named Kayla that I know a lot more about,” Hazel told him. “I can ask for a picture of him?”

Nico nodded, and as Hazel was typing, he asked, “They’re not gonna ask for a picture of me, are they?”

“No, he’s seen some of your videos, I think. Kayla said he thinks you’re cute.”

Nico turned back to the screen and tried to hide his face from his sister. “That’s a start, I guess.”

Kayla kept taking pictures of Will when he wasn’t looking, and he freaked out whenever he caught her, thinking that that was the picture going to Nico. He could Not! Look! Bad! To! Cute! Boys! It was not allowed! And Kayla was being the opposite of helpful!

“Please, Kayla, you can’t send him a bad picture, I’ll die,” Will begged as he tried to snatch the phone away.

“You’re so overdramatic! You know you don’t take bad pictures, Will, you’ve literally looked decent in all of these.”

“But decent isn’t good enough! Nico is super cute and if I don’t look even half that cute, I’ll never have a chance with him!”

The room was quiet enough that Will could hear the video loop coming from Kayla’s phone, starting at Nico is super cute . Will couldn’t see the video before it was gone.

“You did not just send that,” Will demanded. “Kayla.”

“Whoops,” she said, though she was smiling triumphantly.

“I’m dead. I’ll never be a doctor because I’m dead and you’ve killed me.”

Turns out, Kayla had actually been sending tons of pictures to Hazel, and Nico seemed to be having a hard time believing that somebody like Will wanted to date him.

Will looked like he had just rolled out of bed, but still looked amazing. He looked good in pajama pants, what the hell, and he was all tan and had messy curly hair and these amazing blue eyes, and Nico was ready to tell Hazel to start planning the wedding when a video started to load.

“Nico is super cute and if I don’t look even half that cute, I’ll never have a chance with him!”

Even his voice was amazing.

Nico put his head in his hands, but he couldn’t keep the elated grin off his lips. “Hazel, I-- Date, him. I want-- I want to-- Shit, Hazel, how the hell do you ask someone out?”

“Leave that to me and Kayla, Neeks,” Hazel told him, holding up her phone. “Smile!”

“I’ve got a snap!” Kayla announced, and while Will had been curled up in fear beforehand, he was now at Kayla’s shoulder, nervously chewing his lip as she opened the message.

The picture was Nico, turned away from the camera but obviously smiling, cheeks a light pink and one hand covering his eyes as the other reached out as if to push the camera away. Will’s eyes flickered to the message just in time to see the It’s a date! before the image disappeared.

“What?” Will muttered, disbelieving.

Kayla rolled her eyes. “Did you forget to read the message again? It said--”

“No, I saw it,” Will cut in. “I just-- He said yes? I-- We’re gonna go on a date? He said yes to going on a date with me? And that was his face when he said it? Kayla, did you see his face? He looked so happy, and that was because of me! He’s never looked that happy in any of his videos ever, but now he’s going on a date with me and he was smiling like that.”

“Yeah, yeah, I saw his face,” Kayla drawled, but she was smiling a little bit, too. “Where do you wanna go on your very special date? Or do you want me and Hazel to do everything for you?”

Their first date was be a simple meet up at a coffee shop. Hazel and Kayla went with them, but sat at the opposite end of the shop, spying on their brothers as Will (who refused to let Nico pay for him) bought the two of them drinks and they sat down at a small table.

It took a couple of minutes for conversation to flow, because the two boys kept looking down at their drinks and blushing whenever they glanced up at each other.

Eventually, Nico got the ball rolling with: “So, um, Hazel told me you’re pre-med?”

Kayla rolled her eyes from across the room. She didn’t even need to hear the conversation to know that they were talking about Will and medical school. Every time somebody new brought it up, Will would get this big, dumb smile and he’d start talking with his hands.

“Do you know what they’re talking about?” Hazel asked quietly, not that she could be heard by the other pair from across the room.

Kayla sighed. “Will only gets that stupid look on his face when he’s talking about becoming a doctor. Honestly, I’m tired of hearing about how he’s got his life together.”

Will talked for a while about his pre-med program, but Nico didn’t mind at all. Will had this super excited look on his face the whole time he was talking, and even if Nico didn’t really understand what was going on, he appreciated being able to see Will’s face.

They moved on to other topics, mostly so that Will could learn more about Nico. Nico had kind of shied away at first, saying that if Will had watched his videos then he really already knew everything about Nico.

“I think I probably know more about Reyna than I do about you, honestly,” Will had told him. “I might have even watched more of her videos than yours, to tell you the truth.”

“And why might that be?” Nico had asked a bit cautiously.

Will had blushed and let his eyes stray away from Nico. “Well, it’s not that I didn’t find that ghost hunting video interesting, it’s just that watching you goof off with your roommate is a lot cuter than occasionally seeing your feet through night vision.”

“We’ve been here for three hours,” Hazel said when she checked her phone. “And I think that barista’s giving me the stink eye.”

“Whatever, we’ve bought like two drinks each,” Kayla said. “Lover boys over there, on the other hand...” She trailed off with a glance toward her brother, who was leaning an elbow on the table with a big dopey smile on his face.

“Still, I’ve got other things to do,” Hazel complained. “That paper for class that was assigned like, two weeks ago? I haven’t even started that yet!”

“Ooh, same, we should get on that,” Kayla responded. “Do you think they’ll even notice if we leave?”

“They look pretty wrapped up with each other,” Hazel said. “I think we’re probably safe.”

“Go slow and be silent,” Kayla started with a joking tone. “Don’t startle them, and we’ll be home free.”

The two were outside the shop in less than a minute, watching through the window for a moment to make sure they hadn’t been noticed.

“We’ve created a monster,” Kayla muttered.

They had been dating for about a month. They’d gone out, they’d stayed in, Nico had met Will’s friends and Will had met Nico’s. Will had been mentioned in one or two of Nico’s videos, and had even been brought up for a second in one of Reyna’s. Until now, at least.

Reyna hadn’t told them beforehand about her next video idea. She had just waited until she knew that Will would be around, grabbed her one camera that wasn’t directly connected to her computer, and set to work.

She creeped into Nico’s room, early enough that she knew Nico (for sure, but she didn’t know about Will) wouldn’t be awake, filming the entire time. Reyna sneaked closer, starting her best impression of a nature documentary narrator.

“Here, we see the natural habitat of the domesticated gays,” she started quietly, though her voice still caused Nico to stir. “Note the pre-med, who actually cares about his health, lying flat on his back to eliminate muscle pain. And note the emo, laying half on top of the pre-med with, as usual, no care for his physical health.”

At this point, Nico was awake, chin resting on Will’s chest as he squinted up at his roommate. “Ra-Ra, what the hell are you doing?”

Reyna cried, “I’ve been spotted!” before running out of the room.

The next time she found them was about twenty minutes later, in the kitchen. Will was standing at the counter, making himself a bowl of cereal as he waited for the coffee to brew, and Nico was pressed up against his back, arms tight around his waist, and eyes closed. He looked like he’d fallen asleep standing up.

Reyna turned on her camera. “Here, we see the domesticated gays retrieving their first meal of the day. Well. One of them, anyway. Again, note the pre-med, looking well rested and preparing a healthy meal, and note the emo. Not eating, trying to leech the warmth from the pre-med, and probably still asleep. Probably stayed up on his phone all night while the pre-med was sleeping, like usual.”

“Shut up, you don’t know me,” Nico mumbled as he turned his face to the bare skin of Will’s back.

“That’s exactly what happened,” Will told the camera, before reaching into the cupboard in front of him and pulling out two mugs and placing them on the counter. “You want any coffee, Reyna?”

Will had finished his coffee and cereal, and Nico was now on his third mug. The two were sitting on the couch, Nico between Will’s legs with his back to Will’s chest, two freckled arms settled around his waist. Nico had his mug cradled against his chest, and both him and Will were focused on the TV across the room.

“Here, the domesticated gays are relaxed,” Reyna narrated, and Nico shushed her. She continued: “The pre-med having had a healthy one cup of coffee, and the emo is now on his third.”

“Reyna, shut up, we don’t talk during Voltron,” Nico demanded, keeping his eyes on the screen.

Will shot her an apologetic look, but Reyna just shrugged. She was used to this.

When she found them again, she made sure that Voltron wasn’t still playing. Will was laying back on the couch, Nico laying completely on top of him, fast asleep once again with a hand fisted in Will’s t-shirt.

Will was holding a textbook up over his head.

Reyna started recording. “Will, what the hell are you doing?”

His head shot in her direction, obviously startled, but still made sure not to disturb Nico. When he spoke, his voice was hushed. “I, uh, wasn’t actually planning on staying over this long? And I have a test tomorrow. So I’m studying.”

“Why don’t you just wake Nico up so you can leave?”

Will glanced down at his sleeping boyfriend, before looking back to Reyna. “I can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

Will hesitated, cheeks growing pink. “No comment.”

Reyna rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t help but smile a little bit. Until she glanced at the TV. “Are you watching Voltron again ? You just watched every episode yesterday!”

This time, it was Will that rolled his eyes. “Yeah, and we would’ve watched every episode again today, but now you can stop it before he notices.” He tipped his head toward the remote control just out of his reach. “Please, all I ask for is quiet time to study.”

Soon enough, Nico had woken up and Will had left, which meant that Reyna had to hold off filming until Will (inevitably) returned the next day after his test.

Reyna had actually arrived later than Will, and only had time to pull up her phone’s camera before she was in the living room, filming the two boys making out on the couch.

“Ah, it seems that it’s mating season for the domestic gays,” she said, loud enough that Nico jumped out of Will’s lap.

“What the hell! How long have you been home?” he demanded, though his glare was a lot less threatening when his face was so pink.

“Ten seconds,” Reyna answered, looking at the timer on her video.

Nico made a frustrated noise before he stood from the couch, grabbing one of the hands that Will was currently using to cover his red face, and pulled his boyfriend to his bedroom. “You are not allowed to follow us!” he shouted before the door shut and locked.

“Fine, just hold off on the gross noises for five more minutes,” Reyna yelled through the door. “I’ll be at the gym.”

When she returned, the two were back on the couch, though this time it was Will using Nico’s chest as a pillow. As far as Reyna could tell, neither of them were asleep, though neither of them were talking, either. She pulled out her phone again, staying silent as she started filming.

Nico threaded his fingers with Will’s, running his thumb across the back of Will’s hand. “Why’re you so tired, anyway?” he asked softly.

Will yawned into Nico’s shirt. “Stayed up all night studying for that test,” he mumbled, nuzzling into Nico’s chest.

They were quiet for a few more moments, almost long enough that Reyna considered turning off her camera, but then she heard, “Is that your hand on my ass?”

“That was an accident,” Nico said, and Will propped his chin up on Nico’s sternum with a glare. Will was too soft for his glares to be threatening, though.

“It’s still there,” Will told him.

“It’s still an accident,” Nico answered, and Will’s glare only lasted half a second longer before he was laughing into Nico’s neck.

buy me a coffee

[willandlyra]

no one would know the sound of a ghost

in which nico hates his neighbours until one of them shows up at his door claiming his apartment is haunted, and he requires a partner in ghost busting. 

word count: 5228

read on ao3

::

Nico, so far, has not had much contact with his new neighbour, dubbed currently as ‘Will from next door’ and that’s exactly how he likes it.

Their current encounters start and end with the following:

1.   Will moving in just as Nico leaves for work. Headphones in. Minding his own business. His eyes accidentally meet in the lift with who he assumes is the guy moving in from the impractical amounts of boxes he’s holding. Will says, with too much enthusiasm for nine in the morning, “hi! I’m Will”. Nico smiles, and doesn’t say anything because he can’t remember how to formulate words.

2.   Later in the same day. Will still transporting a couple of boxes of things when Nico returns home a few hours later. He actually manages to introduce himself this time. Will drops one of said boxes on Nico’s foot. Great start.

It’s nothing personal to Will, despite his early morning enthusiasm that one time and the fact that Nico actually yelped quite embarrassingly in a very public hallway when half of Will’s possessions collided with his toes. Or – that might have a tiny bit to do with it, but truthfully, Nico doesn’t really care for any of his neighbours.

Not because he doesn’t like them, per say. The ‘nothing personal’ title carries on from Will and is shared between the entirety of his apartment building. The fact is, they’re his neighbours. On principle, no one likes their neighbours. Neighbours are 90% of the time annoying and nosy and invasive. They’re too loud – the guy living in no.196 before Will was always playing his music at an unforgivable volume for three am, and Nico supposes the mistrust has carried.

Some of his neighbours are sweet, sure. Mrs Anderson opposite says hello with a sweet smile every time she encounters him in the hall or lift. She’s approaching eighty-one, and is under the impression that his name is ‘Dave’, but it’s the thought that counts. Piper across the hall is very nice, if not… over enthusiastic, and he supposes if she wasn’t his neighbour, she’d be his friend. As it happens, she is his neighbour, and he has to hear her loudly singing when she leaves her apartment for work every morning. Nice.

That’s a problem with neighbours: you know bits and pieces about them and their lives and their characters, but not enough to know them as people. You get to know all of their crazy and their ugly when you’re listening to mini soap operas through the thin walls dividing your homes, and you accidentally spy upon their irritating habits, and catch them at bad moments, and see all the sides of a person they wouldn’t reveal to a stranger on the street, by pure accident.

That’s all you see though. Some of them are friendly, and they aren’t shy about it, and waves and smiles and greetings are exchanged in the hallways but you don’t know them well enough to find a redeeming quality for all of the pet peeve criterias they fill.

His neighbours have all kinds of crazy. When Piper starts laughing she doesn’t stop until she looks as if her lungs are about to rupture, Mrs Anderson dresses like she’s in a time warp from 1988, Leo down the hall collects cactuses in different shapes and sizes, and Nico himself spends half his time yelling at his laptop at incompetent people on Mythomagic forums.

He hasn’t had many encounters with Will yet, but when he does, it’ll top the list so far.

::

It’s a Friday night, and Nico is ready.

He’s had a week of work – gross – and he’s ridiculously tired, but instead of sleeping, Nico has a way better idea. He has a glass of wine already poured into a glass, sitting idly on the coffee table beside a box of chocolates that he was probably supposed to send to Hazel. Adam Sandler movie (everyone has guilty pleasures) is at the ready. Fluffy bed socks are on. Door is locked. Ready.

He sits down, grin on his face, and breathes out a sigh of relaxation.

…Which is precisely when there’s a knock at his door.

Nico groans. Quite loudly. He sort of hopes that they get the message but as the only response is a couple of other rat-a-tat-tat knocks on the door, he supposes not.

He considers ignoring it and pretending he’s not in – but they’ve probably already heard the groan, and the light from the hall is obviously going to travel through the gap underneath the door itself, and he doesn’t know who is there, anyway. It could be Billie Joe Armstrong, ready to declare his love. It probably isn’t, but it could be.

Nico sighs. An irritated one this time, and it’s not really necessary but it’s kind of for good measure. And then he drags himself up off of the sofa, and feels like he’s pulling dead weight as he slowly, very slowly, makes his way to his front door.

He’s not sure who he’s expecting to find at this hour (it’s only nine in the evening, but whatever, Nico’s an old man when it comes to socialisation in the night). It could Billie Joe. It probably won’t be Billie Joe, but he hopes it is. It could be the boy he got into a fight with in high school - Octavian - who swore revenge, ready to punch him in the face. Could be his ex boyfriend from two years ago turning up with a baby basket, screaming “it’s yours!” before disappearing into thin air, like in all the movies - not that he's sure how that'd work. He isn’t particularly expecting any of these – probably someone who forgot their key, or someone begging for money who somehow got into the building. Maybe his landlord for a surprise inspection, who knows.

He opens the door, and out of all the ideas that sprang into his mind, and all the logical and rational people it could have been, Nico is not expecting it to be Will from next door.

“Um,” Will says. He looks a little like a deer caught in headlights. Maybe he has the wrong address. “Hi.”

Nico stares at him for about ten seconds and then, rather than responding with a traditional greeting, blurts out, “do you have the right address?”

Will blinks several times. And then he says, “yeah. I mean. I wasn’t looking for anyone else. I’m here because – well, for you.”

Because that doesn’t sound creepy at all. What the fuck. Nico’s going to have to rename him Will from next door to Will from the wanted serial killers list.

“Right,” Nico says. There’s a short pause. He shifts uncomfortable, and adds, “for, um, any particular reason?”

Please don’t say homicide, Nico thinks.

“This is going to sound kind of crazy, I know-“

Oh God. He’s going to say homicide.

“But I think my apartment is haunted?”

There’s another pause. This one stretches out longer, an awkward silence in which Will hastily shuffles, waiting for a response, and Nico just gapes at him.

“You what?”

“I… think my apartment is haunted?” Will repeats, and okay. Maybe he did hear right, then.

“Um,” Nico says. “Right. That’s. Well. Unusual.”

“I know,” Will agrees. “But weird things have been happening since I moved in, and. I don’t know. You’re the closest neighbour I have, and sometimes I hear you – accidentally, thin walls, sorry – discussing the existence of aliens on the phone late at night. At least, presumably the phone. Maybe to yourself. Which is fine. But. I just mean, it made me think you might be the most appropriate person to approach here.”

Nico stares at him for a long moment. “You do realise this isn’t like, the ghost busters head quarters or something?”

Will snorts. “Obviously,” he says. “It’d be a pretty stupid ghost to live right next door to the HQ of its nemesis, after all.”

It’s a kind of funny comment. Nico wants to laugh, but he’s still gaping at Will, not really sure in any way how to respond to him.

“Are you fucking with me?” he asks. “It’s been a long week, man. I’m not feeling it. Come back on Wednesday, maybe. I can cope with Wednesdays.”

“I’m not joking,” Will insists, looking a little desperate. “Like. Genuinely. My apartment is being haunted. I am being pursued by a poltergeist, I am literally certain of it. And it’s been going on for months, ever since I moved in, and I just ignored it and tried to rationalise it but my Cheerios just got knocked off of the kitchen table for no reason, and they’ve spilled everywhere and I have had enough.”

Nico just says, “why were you eating Cheerios at nine pm?”

Will shrugs. “Mid-life crisis.”

“You’re not middle aged though.”

“But I will be, some day, and I’m having a crisis about it.”

Same, Nico thinks, nodding. Because he totally relates.

“Same,” he tells Will from next door. “I feel that.”

“Thanks,” Will says.

“New question, why were you eating Cheerios, they’re bloody gross.”

“They aren’t, but that’s not the point. I reiterate: I think my apartment is being haunted. In fact, scrap that. My apartment is being haunted.”

“Okay,” Nico agrees. “Your apartment is haunted. What – I mean, I’m not trying to be rude here – but what exactly can I do about that?”

“I need you to help me search for paranormal activity,” Will admits hastily, and Nico just stares at him. Again.

“Wait,” he says, a few moments later. “You are literally being serious right now.”

“Yep,” Will sighs. “Completely. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Nico says automatically. Is it? He doesn’t really know. He’s never been asked to hunt for paranormal activity before. Particularly not with someone he has literally spoken to twice. And neither of them were exactly intimate encounters.

“Thanks.”

“Why?”

“Because my apartment is being haunted,” Will says. “Oh, you mean – well. I can’t go alone. Everyone knows you never take on a poltergeist or whatever that is alone. I tried telling my friend, but he thought I was joking. And, um, my other friend recommended psychiatry. So far you’ve only crossed one off the list. So that’s a good sign.”

“Jesus Christ,’” Nico says. He shakes his head in disbelief, and he’s kind of really feeling like he needs to sit down for a bit. Or maybe for the rest of his life. That would work.

“Is that a no?” Will asks, defeated. All of this staring has given him a good look at Will from next door. He’s cute, that’s for sure. Blonde hair, blue eyes, most likely helps old ladies cross the street. He really is attractive – although most people are, if you haven’t got laid since 1968. Nico may or may not fall into that criteria.

Also, Will had these big blue eyes, hard to say no to. He’s really cute.

Also, Nico’s seen this film before, and it totally sucks.

Turns out ‘Jesus Christ’ doesn’t mean no after all.

::

Nico does what any good neighbour would do, and allows Will in, and offers him a coffee.

“Yes, please,” he says. “My coffee always seems to end up going drastically wrong. I blame the ghost.”

“Are you sure you’re not just really bad at making coffee?”

“I’ll have you know, I’m an expert,” Will retorts. “I’d show you, but honestly, I’m too scared of accidentally breaking the mugs. The ghost has made me very superstitious.”

Nico eyes him wearily, thinking, why the fuck did I let this lunatic inside of my apartment?

“I’m sure it has,” Nico says. “Can I ask when the supposed haunting began?”

“Right after I moved in.”

“And what exactly were the signs?” he presses, feeling a little too self-important. Nico’s enjoying this, though, in spite of the serial killer possibility still being a fairly high risk. He feels like a ghost buster. Maybe this is actually what he was born to do. If, you know, ghosts actually existed. He has no idea what he’s supposed to do or ask, and he’s kind of making it up as he goes along – it reminds him of the improvisation exercises they had to do in high school drama. A simpler time.

“Well, it’s really cold, for a start…” Will begins, and Nico can’t help but interject.

“The whole building is,” he tells him. “The heating is kind of shit. Don’t supposed they mentioned it in the sale, though.”

Will frowns. “Maybe the whole building is haunted,” he says, and Nico doesn’t reply, because if he did he would probably bang his head violently against the table.

“What else?”

“Things keep breaking. I keep dropping everything when I shouldn’t be. Things just fall off the table or out of my hands even when I’ve got a firm grip.”

“That’s called butterfingers,” Nico informs him. He feels that on a pretty deep level. Maybe he isn’t the ghost buster after all. Maybe he’s actually the ghost.

“I still think it’s the ghost,” Will says defensively. “I was never this bad before!”

“Really?”

Nico’s not sure why, but from looking at and talking to Will, he’s kind of drawn the conclusion he’s the type to break a good few mirrors in his lifetime.

“Well,” Will says. “I don’t think so.”

Nico sighs. “What else?”

“Weird noises.”

He raises his eyebrow. “As in…?”

“Like. I don’t know,” Will shrugs. “This kind of… groaning sound? But not like, I mean, not in a sexual way. I’m pretty sure I’m not just eavesdropping on someone getting laid by accident. It’s more of a… pained wailing.”

“I see,” Nico says slowly. “And what time would you say this occurs most of all?”

“I don’t know. Like… eleven in the evening until two in the morning, mostly, I’d say?”

Nico coughs. “Right,” he says, and then swiftly moves along onto another question.

Will does not need to know that the supposed ‘ghost noises’ he’s been hearing every night are actually the sounds of Nico losing at Silent Hill.

::

The last time Nico got invited back to a guy’s place in the evening was probably over three years ago. Also, it wasn’t to search for paranormal activity and the proof of a poltergeist, so Nico’s really not sure whether he’s winning or losing tonight.

“Here it is,” Will says, opening the door. “I don’t know whether you’ve been in here a lot before, with the old tenant, but. I’ve moved it around a bit.”

“Yeah, no, it looks good,” Nico says. “I like your set up a lot better than Percy's.”

“Percy?”

“Old tenant,” Nico tells him. “I came over a few times. The place always smelled of fish. It was gross.”

Will wrinkles his nose. “Ew,” he says. “Bet you’re glad that he left.”

“Oh, I am,” Nico says. “He was definitely not one of my better neighbours. He’s moved away with his girlfriend now, thank God, though I’m pretty sure they’re only together because she’s a pescatarian.”

“Makes sense,” Will shrugs. “Did he ever mention anything weird while he was living here?”

“99% of the shit he says was weird,” Nico tells him. “But if you’re talking about in relation to the ghost, then no, he didn’t.”

Will groans. “Why am I the only one being targeted?”

“Maybe the smell of fish scared him off?” Nico offers helpfully. “Or maybe he was being… haunted, and I just wouldn’t know because he never approached me about it quite as, well, forwardly as you did.”

“I was tired of suffering in silence,” Will says defensively.

“I’m not hating,” Nico raises his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Although, there is another option.”

“Which is?”

“He doesn’t exist. The poltergeist, I mean, not you.”

“I mean, that’s a possibility,” Will muses. “But I still have pretty high confidence in its existence. Do you not believe in ghosts, then?”

“Not really,” Nico admits.

“But you believe in aliens?”

Nico flushes. “That’s a debate for another day. It’s a bigger likelihood. Look at the size of the universe, Will. You really think this planet is the only one to harbour intelligent life? Will. Will, listen. They’re out there.”

Will stares at him for a few moments. “And you don’t believe in ghosts?”

“…Not really?”

“So you think we just get born out of nowhere and remain on the planet for an unspecified amount of time and then just die? Just like that?”

Nico shrugs. “I dunno, but if I were a ghost, I sure as hell wouldn’t be spending my days in the afterlife haunting random apartments.”

Will considers this. “Me either, but maybe it was resting in peace, but then the previous tenant angered it with the fish, and now it’s out for vengeance.”

“Okay, now that’s something I’d do,” Nico nods. “I agree with the current actions of the ghost.”

Will frowns at him, and points to the pile of broken ceramic, Cheerios and milk on his kitchen floor.

“Really?” he asks dryly. “I don’t.”

::

“How exactly do we detect paranormal activity anyway?” Nico asks, and Will, for a moment, looks perplexed.

“Ah,” he says. “That could be an issue. Don’t you need like, all kinds of fancy scientific equipment?”

“This isn’t a science fiction novel, Will. I’m pretty sure those kinds of tools don’t actually exist.”

“Such a sceptic,” Will sighs, mournfully. “And so young, too. So sad.”

“They didn’t need high tech equipment in paranormal activity the movies though,” Nico says, ignoring his previous comment. “You have a video camera?”

“Nico, those movies weren’t real…”

“Obviously,” Nico says, rolling his eyes. “But we have to take inspiration from somewhere.”

“True,” Will admits, and he complies. They set up Will’s old video camera in the kitchen, where Will insists most of the ‘incidents’ seem to happen, and wait a while.

“We should search the apartment too,” Will declares. “There might be, you know, weird demonic markings on some of the walls or something, that’d indicate there’s a demon here, right?”

“Or that a previous tenant was into the illuminati,” Nico says. “But sure.”

Nico goes along with it anyway, though he’s not entirely sure why. This is hardly on the top of the list of things he was planning to do tonight, but maybe, on the odd occasion, socialisation with a stranger does end up being better than sitting around watching bad Adam Sandler movies and being bitter. Not that Nico would ever admit it.

Also, who knows – maybe the whole ghost buster thing could end up being a pretty good career change. Nico’s not really feeling being in marketing for the rest of his life. Or for a second more than he has to be. So that could work.

“Hey, Will,” he calls. “Wanna go into business as professional paranormal activity experts?”

“Sure,” Will says. “I’ll come up with a theme song. We’ll probably get sued for being crap, though.”

Nico waves him off from the other side of the room. “I’m pretty sure whether or not you have been released from the haunting of a supernatural entity is a matter of opinion, and entirely subjective.”

He turns to look at Will, who is stood by the wall trying to look behind the photo frames and tiny flower pots (seriously?) for any, like, small 666 signs or something, presumably, and absent-mindedly thinks about how he has great legs.

“I’m pretty sure it isn’t,” Will says, turning around, and yeah. Great legs. “But it’s fine. We’ll work with it. You found anything?”

“Nope,” Nico says. “Zilch.”

“Me too,” Will frowns. “Subtle, ghost, subtle. I’ll give you credit for that. You’ve got moves.”

“It isn’t real,” Nico says. Because probably.

“Or it’s just more subtle than you are,” Will says, shaking his head. “My legs are great. I’m with you there.”

Nico blushes, and Will grins.

“Sorry if I-” he starts, but Will waves him off.

“I’m kidding,” he says. “It’s fine. Also, it’s been ages since we set the camera up, shall we go and check it?”

Nico blinks. “It’s literally been about forty-five minutes. If that.”

“Like I said, it’s been ages.”

::

They turn the footage onto fast forward, and watch for any – Nico doesn’t know what. Demonic figures. Floating plates. Suddenly falling kitchen appliances, or something like that.

Nothing happens, though. It’s a still image of a kitchen (with Will’s evening-breakfast still spread out, all over the floor, nice) that just happens to be the backdrop for a bit of blur and zoom indications, and a clock showing the time at the bottom.

But nothing happens.

“There!” Will says. “Nico, go back, I saw something!”

It turns out, all that Will saw was a bit of dust moving in the corner between the wall and the cupboard.

“You disgust me,” Nico says. “Clean your kitchen. Also, the cereal.”

“I don’t know if I should. Can’t I send stuff like that in to be analysed in labs and stuff? Is that a thing?”

“No,” Nico replies. “Clean it up. I’ve almost slipped on that milk at least three times.”

::

Like a good Samaritan, Nico offers to help clean up the cereal disaster, and promptly slips on the milk.

::

“See,” Will tells him, holding an ice pack to his head, which he had hit pretty hard on one of his kitchen counters. “I told you weird incidents and disasters kept happening here.”

“I slipped on spilled cereal ingredients,” Nico reminds him. “If you always leave your paranormal encounters left around on the floor like that, no wonder you’re always tripping over.”

Will frowns. “That’s a fair point,” he says. “I’m still recording some more, though. Just in case.”

“You do that,” Nico says encouragingly. “I’ll just. Be here. Icing.”

“Ah, right,” Will says, biting his lip. “Sorry about that. Your injury, I mean.”

“It’s okay,” Nico replies. “I mean. I don’t know what I was expecting when I came over here today, but it probably should have been something like this.”

“I… kind of feel like I should be offended right now,” Will frowns.

“Can you blame me? The first day we met, you dropped a box on my toe,” Nico points out, and Will’s eyes widen.

“Oh god, I’d forgotten about that! I’m so sorry!”

“Don’t be,” Nico says quickly. “It’s fine. All is forgiven.”

“Maybe it was the poltergeist?”

Nico groans on impulse. “Please stop,” he says, and when Will looks at him a little strangely, he feels self-conscious, and asks, “what?”

“Nothing, it’s just…”

“What?”

“You sounded a lot like the ghost noises I hear at night just then.”

Oh, fuck.

::

They manage to leave the recording going this time for almost an hour. Key word: almost. They spend the time sat dutifully in Will’s bedroom, googling things like, “paranormal activity detection”, and “is there a ghost in my house”, and “are ghosts adverse to fish?” on their phones.

It’s been a long time since Nico was in a guy’s bedroom as the clock neared towards midnight. He’s usually wearing a lot less clothes and not researching the likelihood of having a poltergeist in a newly-built block of New York apartments, but he’s having a pretty good time regardless. Maybe on occasion, the supernatural is better than sex. He considers this, and then decides that probably isn’t true. Maybe they should be combined. Will is still pretty, after all. Sex and the Supernatural. If the ghost buster business doesn’t work out, at least he has a great name for his future T V show.

“Will, the building isn’t haunted,” Nico says, for probably the 59th time. Nothing I’ve found backs up your idea. And if it did, it wouldn’t matter. It’s the internet. It’s all bullshit.”

“Well someone’s feeling cynical,” Will says, and Nico couldn’t agree more.

“That’s me,” Nico agrees. “Full time cynic. Non-believer. Para-sceptic.”

“…Who believes in aliens?”

Nico scowls. “We’ve been through this.”

::

They check the tape again, and there’s nothing.

“I told you so,” Nico sings gleefully, and Will glares at him.

“I don’t like you,” he says. “I’m glad I dropped box on your foot.”

“Hey!”

::

Will, as a good, courteous neighbour (who is blatantly copying Nico’s ideas) offers Nico a cup of coffee.

“I thought you said it always goes drastically wrong,” Nico reminds him, wearily.

“Oh, yeah,” Will says.  “But I mean what’s life without a little risk? And it’s not like anyone has ever died.”

“That… doesn’t really reassure me, to be honest.”

Will rolls his eyes. “Live a little.”

Nico laughs, and when Will gives him a questioning look, he just says, “come on. Isn’t that a little ironic? We’re literally searching for a ghost right now. And you’re telling me to live a little. Jesus Christ.”

“Get out of my house,” Will says. And then. “Do you think I offended it?”

Nico does accept the tea, though. Mostly because he wants to see how horrifically bad this can go. Also, he’s never been one to turn down free coffee. Also, he’s running out of coffee at his own place, and it’s the strategically correct way to go.

Will takes extra care getting the milk out and boiling the kettle and pouring the water into the mug without accidentally burning half of his skin off. He’s doing quite well, actually, Nico was expecting more disasters by now. He’s pleasantly surprised.

Will hands Nico his cup of tea with a proud look on his face. “Didn’t even injure myself,” he beams. “I’m very proud.”

“I’m proud too,” Nico tells him. “Go on. Have your tea. You deserve it.”

“I do,” Will agrees. His tea is on the counter, cooling down, and Will glances at it. “I’m the master.”

“You are.”

“I’m glad we can agree.”

“How could I ever disagree?” Nico says. “Come on. High five.”

Will grins. Nico thinks about kissing him for 0.2 seconds until he promptly rejects the thought. He’s still a stranger, even if they have gone on this ghost hunt together, and discussed business initiative, and he’s really cute. That changes nothing. Obviously.

He raises his hand in waiting.

And then, as Will reaches up to give him said high five, disaster strikes. To be fair, it was bound to eventually. But as Will’s hand raises up to meet Nico’s, his elbow goes flying out in the direction of the counter, and the mug, in the collision, goes flying, and topples off behind Will’s arm and crashes onto the floor and promptly splits into about ten different pieces as the tea drenches the cupboards, the newly cleaned floor, and Will’s leg.

“See!” he exclaims. “This is what I mean! Things like this! They happen constantly! I’m cursed, I tell you, what the hell.”

“Will,” Nico says slowly. “You do realise that you knocked the mug off the counter, right? Not some ghost or invisible being. It was literally you. Hence the coffee on your elbow.”

“Yeah,” Will says. “I mean, that’s usually what happens, but that doesn’t mean a ghost isn’t here, dictating the events.”

Nico gapes at him. “Oh my god,” he mutters. “Will! You idiot, you’re not being haunted, you’re just clumsy.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s not just clumsiness,” Will argues weakly, but Nico knows that they both know he’s right. “It happens way too often to be a coincidence.”

“It’s not a coincidence,” Nico says.

“Yeah,” Will agrees. “I have a poltergeist.”

“No you don’t. It’s normal. It even has a name.”

“It does?”

“Yeah. It’s called really clumsy.”

“Ah,” Will says. He seems to ponder the thought for a moment. “Maybe I’m not being haunted then.”

“Did you mean, no shit?” Nico says, sarcastically, and Will laughs.

“Okay, you were right, I suppose,” Will shrugs. “It was kind of fun though, right? I hope I didn’t waste your evening. To be honest though, I don’t know for sure yet. I’m still not entirely convinced. It could just be hiding from you.”

“Nah, you didn’t. I mean, I had fun,” Nico says. Will gives him a small smile. Nico realises that the amount of emotion they are lowkey showing is disgusting, and dives into the other topic. “To be honest, you might be right, it could be,” he says, and he nods.

“Or maybe you’re the ghost. And you’ve just dressed yourself up in human form.”

Nico shrugs. He kind of really wants to kiss him, still. He can’t believe he’d spent his whole Friday night searching for a ghost. The things he’ll do for a cute boy is quite embarrassing. “You have no way of knowing,” he says, egging Will on.

Will pokes him in the side. “Hmm,” he says. “Feels real, to be honest.”

Nico gives him an innocent look. “Well, I mean,” he says. “There’s only a few ways to find out. Proper scientists conduct investigations, don’t they?”

“Experiments are very important in any case of paranormal activity,” Will agrees, a glint in his eye, and a grin on his face. Nico smiles back, too, and Will’s eyes drop to his lips and linger. Nico may not be quite as subtle as the poltergeist, but at least it’s led him to be able to take a hint.

He leans in quickly, and before he can change his mind he presses a chaste, gentle kiss on Will’s lips, lasting for a few seconds, before he pulls back, only half an inch, still so close to Will, and says, “wait, shit. That’s what we were talking about, right? I didn’t get the wrong idea?”

Will laughs a little. “That’s what we were talking about,” he confirms. “And you had exactly the right idea.”

Nico breathes out a sigh of relief, and Will pulls him closer and kisses him again, properly this time, slow. And if this is what the ghost chase has been leading up to this whole time then yeah, Nico definitely hasn’t wasted his Friday night. They keep kissing, slow and soft, and Nico can’t help but smile against his lips.

Maybe neighbours aren’t all bad, he thinks.

“Wait,” Will says, pulling back. “Maybe we should go to your place. You know, just in case the ghost is watching.” There’s a twinkle in his eye, and Nico wants to groan, but he wants to kiss him more and so he does, and again, before he actually answers him.

“Thought I was the ghost,” he says, and Will shakes his head.

“Nah,” he says. “I think you’re normal. Well, to an extent. You did just assist a near stranger in a hunt for paranormal activity for the past, like, four hours.”

Nico rolls his eyes. “Never mind,” he says. “Poltergeist or no poltergeist, I can’t do this here. I’ll be too distracted by the memory of searching for signs of the illuminati.”

Will laughs, and kisses him again. Says, “yours, then?” and yeah. Nico can work with that.

::

The last time Nico invited a boy back to his apartment past midnight was a while ago, and though it didn’t come after a lengthy search of a non-existent (he hopes) poltergeist and the emergence of a career in ghost busting, he has to admit that he likes the way it went a lot better this time.