Chapter Text
The coke slushee Nico bought is going to melt by the time Jason gets out of camp. He scowls at the plastic cup as it condensates under the August sun. A waste of a good green American dollar. The campers had been long gone when he arrived, the parking lot nearing empty with a few exceptions. Only beat-up second-hand cars that belonged to the other counselors were left behind. He checked his watch. Twenty minutes.
He’s not exactly sure why Jason insists on coming back to this place every summer. Peeking around the gate, the cabins looked run down with moss and dry rot. The Californian pine trees covered the rest of the view aside from the dirt path that led deeper into the campus grounds.
Honestly, the fact that they made Jason shave his head would be enough to send Nico packing. Nico looked in the car’s flip down mirror, checking himself over. He liked his black curls, and they weren’t going anywhere.
Preferring to not die of heat exhaustion, he steps out of the car and leans against the door. He takes off his sweater, revealing a band tee over his typical black jeans.
A crowd of four counselors emerge from the gates, and Jason’s among them. One boy with particularly pretty green eyes and swooping black hair sticks out to him. Jason gives the boy a quick hug. More sentimental goodbyes echo through the parking lot while Jason jogs over to Nico.
“Hey, Neeks!” Jason pulls him into a brief hug. A pinewood campfire wafts to his nose as he pulls away.
“I got you a slushee but it’s definitely melted.”
“It’s okay. I’m just glad to see you.” Jason’s eyes once over him and he tries to stop shrinking into the side of the car. He checks over Jason too- tanned skin replaced his previous pink cheeks, white camp tee filled out with rediscovered muscles, and as per usual for the end of summer, his hair is buzzed.
“And your car.” Nico gestures to the wrangler.
“I know! I was confident you were going to crash it and cry to me about how sorry you were. I was preemptively ready to forgive you.”
“What- hey! I’m still learning but I’m not a bad driver. And if anything, you’re the one who taught me so that means you’re a bad teacher.” He shoves Jason’s shoulder away to put more distance between the two of them, and he hands the keys over.
“Whatever.” Jason rolls his eyes, then hops in. “Sorry it took so long, we didn’t know Percy was going to show up.”
“Is he the one with the black hair and green eyes? Why didn’t he have to shave?”
“Percy doesn’t go to camp anymore, but he goes to university around Berkley so he came early to see everyone.” College wasn’t a thought in Nico’s mind yet, although it probably should’ve been. Ever since he lost his mom and Bianca, things weren’t the same.
Being a rising senior, he knows the race to his future starts when Jason turns over the engine to drive home. This was their routine since they were fourteen. Nico sees Jason off with a full head of gorgeous blond waves. After a slow and lonely summer of retail work, he picks up Jason from camp with no hair. He’ll be bigger and stronger after the military boot camp, playful punches leaving real soreness that Nico will be afraid to admit to. Then they go back to inner Berkley for the rest of the school year. Like Nico, the blond didn't have a family besides Thalia, but he hadn’t seen her in years. It was just the two of them, their boarding school dorm room, and their newest addition, a 2008 jeep wrangler.
But, next summer there wasn’t going to be any camp. No more routine and no more lonely retail summers. Just him and Jason, out in the world.
“Hair grows back, Neeks. Don’t be so eager.” Jason winks at him and ruffles his hair. “Also Percy is straight and taken, unfortunately. Otherwise I would give you his number.”
“I wasn’t interested in him-” He tries to push down his flushed cheeks.
“Sure. That’s why you remember the color of his eyes… It’s okay, everyone’s got a crush on him.” Jason waves it off, but Nico feels the need to explain himself. He’s not trying to hit on Percy- he’s not trying to get with anyone, really.
“No, really! He’s not my type.”
“And what is your type?”
“I-” He thinks. Anakin Skywalker, maybe. “I don’t know!”
“I thought you liked brunettes- other Italians, like that one guy from chemistry last year. What was his name?” Jason had to know his name, Nico dated him for almost four months last year- Jason was just being rude.
“Luca. He didn’t even speak Italian, I ended up being closer to his mom and dad than him... I’m giving up on trying to find other Italians, maybe I should just go for someone completely different than me.”
“Hm.” Jason smirks at that, and looks back to the road.
“What?”
“What would ‘different’ entail?”
Nico shrugs.
I’m in Love With You by The 1975 takes over the speakers as they fly down the freeway. He rolls down the windows, allowing the winds to brush through his hair and cool him down.
He decides to try the slushie that is sitting in the cupholder, figuring that Jason’s not interested in it anymore. It’s not awful, but he’s not going to take another sip.
“Can I have some?” Jason reaches out to grab the cup out of Nico’s grasp.
“It’s just flat watered down coke now.” He tries to counter but Jason’s already taken a sip, mouth on the same straw Nico just used. It’s rather domestic, and Nico tries to ignore that he didn’t even particularly want to share straws with Luca, but with Jason it feels comfortable.
After they arrive at their room, Nico quickly changes into shorts and a sweatshirt and flops down onto his bed. Jason’s in the shower, but he’s already unpacked his essentials- a gray school logo sweatshirt, toiletries including a sandalwood cologne, and the gold coin he’s carried around since before they met.
Their walls aren’t littered in posters like it used to be when they were fifteen. Jason has a few winding plants growing on his windowsill and maintains a minimalistic desk.
Nico has kept up two of his favorite band posters, the Arctic Monkeys AM album cover, and a 1985 tour advert for The Smiths in Italy. He filled up the rest of the space with photos of his mom, Bianca, and Jason. A set of fairy lights start on his side of the room but have since migrated over to Jason’s plants.
When Jason comes back into the room, he doesn’t have a shirt on and is flushed slightly pink from the steam of his shower.
“So, tell me about your summer.” Nico swings his legs around the bed.
“Nothing new to say.” He shrugs. “Everything’s good- Reyna’s got a handle of everything while I’m gone.” From what Nico understood, the camp ran all year long even while Jason was at school. Jason and that Latina with a long black braid were the front runners since they were sixteen.
“There’s really no new drama or anything? What happened to your friends- Frank and Hazel? Did they get together?”
“Yeah.”
He waits for Jason to elaborate, but nothing comes up.
“Okay…” Jason would open up sooner or later, so Nico let it go. “Well you’ll never believe what happened at work-” Nico continued to explain the story of the time a group of teenagers tried to steal some band tees from the store, but ended up knocking the rack over on top of themselves. His manager had to untangle them while on the walkie with the mall cops.
Jason’s military barrier started to crumble as his eyes softened. He pulled their school logo sweatshirt over his head, immediately becoming less intimidating when his muscles are hidden. He took a seat on his bed so he was facing Nico.
For the rest of the afternoon Nico recounted every detail of his Hot Topic summer, and Jason jumped in and flashed that sparkling smile whenever the story became particularly ridiculous. After the sun sets, the glow in the dark stars they tacked to their ceiling all those years ago light up the room.
This was his world. It extended from the gates of their school, through campus, and ended here, in their dorm room. Nothing else was part of their future, and nothing outside of these walls mattered to Nico. He hoped Jason felt the same.
-
By September Jason is completely readjusted to civilian life, so there is no reason why Nico finds himself still watering his plants. To be honest, after a particularly brain-melting heatwave last summer he named them all affectionately. He bonded with them, they seemed to miss Jason quite as much as him. Now that he was back the plants seemed to be thriving again. Nico is proud that Esmerelda the Pothos has made a comeback.
“Drink up” Nico mutters to her, pouring carefully over the soil.
His phone buzzes with a text from Jason.
Stop procrastinating, hurry up or I’m leaving.
Asshole.
With some drag to his feet, he swings his backpack over his shoulder and trudges to the library where Jason is waiting. He finds him at a group study table with white wired headphones in.
“Finally- I was starting to think you wanted to fail the physics test.” Nico pulls out one of Jason’s earbuds and sticks it in his ear. He recognizes the song as Tempest by the Deftones.
“I was feeding Esmerelda because you’re a neglectful plant dad.” Jason opens Nico’s backpack and pulls out the offending textbook.
“Nico. Focus.”
“No.” He sticks out his tongue, but takes out a highlighter and pulls himself closer to the book and to Jason. Jason starts to propose the first set of problems. Nico hopelessly struggles through the first three until he becomes completely discouraged.
“This isn’t fair, it’s like you’re gifted in this shit-” He faceplants into the textbook, hands in his hair. It’s not that Jason is a bad tutor, the problem is that Nico couldn’t give less than two shits about how a plane flies.
“It’s simple, Neeks. Sit up… What’s Bernoulli's principle?”
“Uh-” He flips back through his notebook. “An increase in the speed of a fluid results in a decrease in static pressure.” He parrots his teacher, and Jason rips out an empty page. He folds it intricately with care.
“When the plane’s wings are at an angle like this.” Jason holds up the paper plane demonstration, and bends the wings upwards. “The velocity increases above the wings, so what happens below the plane?”
“Pressure decreases?”
“Exactly. And then?” Jason points down to the textbook where a list of aerodynamic laws are outlined.
“Lift?” He’s not sure what it really means, but it seems to be a good guess because Jason’s face lights up in response.
“Yes! Good boy.” Jason ruffles his curls, and hands him the paper plane as a reward.
He tries to not feel like a dog that just performed a circus trick but he fails at hiding his eye roll.
“Well, I guess I could be done for the day…” Jason tempts.
“No!” Nico jumps up and ushers Jason back into his seat. “I still need your brain. Sit.”
Jason smirks in response, but doesn't move to the next question.
“Say I’m a good tutor.”
Nico rolls his eyes. “Jason-”
“Say it.” Jason elbows him, hard. Nico grunts in pain, he’s never going to ask Jason for anything ever again.
Nico clenches his teeth. “You’re a good tutor. Thank you for helping me.” That seems to satisfy Jason, the boy laughs to himself in amusement. Jason loved to hear praise whenever he could. When they first met, Nico found it egotistical and absorbed, but after becoming closer, he found that it was just the way Jason liked to tease.
“I have a good student.” He smiles. They move on to the rest of the worksheet, and Jason calls him a genius the next time he gets an answer right.
Jason excuses himself to use the restroom, and Nico takes it upon himself to try out the next question when Jason’s phone lights up with a message. He picks up the phone with the intent to turn off the ringer. Unfortunately, his eyes wander.
Ariah
We would just need a recent physical evaluation. Whenever that comes in we’ll prep you for BMT in Texas.
He blinks twice before reading the message again- eyes focused on the words Texas and BMT- Basic Military Training. Was Jason enlisting into the Army? Nico shakes his head, if Jason had any interest in truly joining, he would consult Nico before doing anything. It must be a spam message. He tries to push the thought out of his mind- next summer was still ten months away. There was no reason to prepare for the future right now. Nico has time. Time to make a plan, to get Jason to stay.
-
They were supposed to head out to the pregame with their friends at least ten minutes ago. Nico is sitting on Jason’s bed, trying so hard to not be annoyed by the American’s buffoonery but to no avail. The idea was Jason’s after all.
“You said-'' He repeats carefully. “That we were doing a culture swap for Halloween.” His own costume entailed a cowboy hat, brown leather vest which he proudly thrifted, and a black bandana. He takes off the hat and throws it onto the bed in frustration.
“We are!” One of Jason’s arms is out of the toga, as the white fabric is only slung over one scantily clad shoulder. Nico ignores how his deltoids tighten and release as Jason’s anger bubbles.
“This is just an excuse so you could wear the least amount of clothing possible. And toga parties already exist, I thought you were going to be a pizzaiolo and wear a fake mustache with a chef’s hat or something!”
“Huh?” Jason steps back. “Isn’t that offensive?” Nico’s going to punch his teeth in.
“I’m giving you permission to be offensive. And a chance to put on more clothes.” Nico isn’t trying to be conservative or slutshame his friend. It’s just that the night is going to be long and cold, and Jason is a Californian beach blond with a valley accent. He couldn’t handle a particularly chilly seabreeze, much less an out of the usual forty-five degrees fahrenheit night on the Pacific coast.
“Why does it matter to you?” The second significant issue is that Jason looks ridiculously hot in a toga. He has the white fabric as well as the brown rope to tie it all together at his hips- a detail that most guys look over. Nico’s somewhat happy that at least, he’s tied it all properly aside from the obvious gaping at the shoulder so his chest can peek through.
It isn’t fair to Nico, knowing that his best friend is the hottest guy on campus while he feels like a silly eight-year-old pretending to be a big boy cowboy. Meanwhile, Jason looks like a statue of a Roman god, crafted by Donatello himself. He is confident that a girl is going to end up staying over tonight and Jason will send Nico a desperate text asking him to stay at a friend’s and not come back to his room.
“It doesn’t. Never mind.”
“We’re getting late. Can we just go?”
“Fine. But I’m not lending you my jacket later.”
“I wouldn’t fit in it anyways.” Jason scoffs and Nico bites his tongue, trying to get out the door before he starts another wrestling fight that he’ll lose.
Jason lingers behind a moment, and then meets Nico in the hallway.
“You forgot your most important accessory, cowboy.” Jason’s accent drawls a bit when he reaches the word cowboy. He smiles and places the hat on Nico’s head, eyes lingering while observing Nico’s face. He feels like he’s under a microscope- every zit, every pore and every thing that made Nico insecure on display for Jason to see. He looks away, using the hat to block the space between them.
“Even if you hate my costume, I do like yours. You look cute.” Jason throws the hat behind Nico so it’s hanging off his neck by the stampede strap. He fluffs Nico’s hair.
“Stop touching me.” He swats Jason’s hands away.
“Break it up, lovebirds.” Will appears from his dorm room down the hall with a pack of Coors and a bottle of Svedka. “They’re waiting for us downstairs.”
Nico throws a final glare at Jason. He’s not sure exactly why he’s so annoyed at the boy for his costume choice- all he knows is that when Jason catches a cold, Nico is going to be the one forcing Jason to get up and take a dose of NyQuil before sleeping through the night.
He catches up to follow Will down the stairs, taking the pack of beer off his hands.
“I should say thank you for helping, but I think you’re appropriating my culture.” Will jokes, gesturing to Nico’s outfit. Hearing Will’s southern drawl already put him in a better mood, it sounded like honey to his ears.
“Don’t try me, I’m already annoyed.” Nico pulls off a can of Coors and cracks it open.
“Trouble in paradise, darling?”
“Whatever that means.” There were still a few idioms that Nico didn’t understand, but from context he figured he would agree with the southern boy. “It’s fine. I just want to have fun tonight.”
“I could help with that, you know. I do know a thing or two about cowboys.” Nico’s not dense and Will isn’t subtle- he’s been hitting on Nico since last April but the blond had floated to the back of his mind until now. The boy had blond hair and blue eyes as well- but the similarities with Jason ended there. Will’s hair was long- long enough to be tied back in a bun like it was now. He was only slightly taller than Nico compared to the foot difference that loomed between him and Jason, and he was much less muscular. Will was dressed as a soccer player- Lionel Messi’s name and number plastered on the back of a blue and red striped jersey.
“I’ll get back to you at the bottom of this can.”
“Is that a no?” Will holds open the door for him, and he blushes at the gesture.
“It’s a maybe.”
“I’ll take what I can get.”
After an effective pregame and a brisk walk, Nico finds himself playing beer pong at a UC Berkeley house party off their frat row. He’s lost the entire group with the exception of Will, who has only left his side once to get a refill. The college freshmen he’s playing against are losing, but to be fair neither team is particularly good at the game. Ping pong balls keep flying every which way, and he’s a bit distracted with Will’s arm loosely wrapped around his waist.
The boy he’s playing against offers Nico a drink, and asks him where he’s from.
“ Italia . Born and raised.” He’s found that Americans are always too afraid to prod about origins, so he offers up the information first.
“Oh- I should’ve guessed from your accent.” The guy laughs, and continues to miss his next two shots. Nico and Will are down to three cups.
He frowns. “I didn’t realize I had one.”
Will jumps in and takes the ping pong balls. “You do, it’s not that strong, I think it’s cute.”
The freshman smiles. “It is cute. Is this your boyfriend?”
“He wishes.” The alcohol is speaking now, and pushing him closer to Will’s side. The game ends smoothly, Will making the last two shots in and then finishing the game off with a suave bounce off the table.
They thank the boys for a good game, and Nico downs his drink before Will leads him off to the dance floor. The familiar bassline of Lovegame by Lady Gaga shakes the floor and walls around him. Nico’s struggling to stay standing, especially with the bodies shoving him every which way.
He takes a look around the crowd, trying to recognize any of their friends. It was always easy to find Jason’s blonde quiff tower over the rest of the boys at school, but this was a college party. Now the other boys were just as tall as his Jason- or taller. His eyes finally land on his roommate on a couch chatting with a small brown-haired girl. She’s wearing a sequined black crop top that's barely covering her cleavage. His hand is creeping up her thigh and Jason sporting a devious smirk- the smirk that Nico thought belonged to him. He’s going to be sick.
“Nico.” Drunken lips whisper into his ear. His shoes are sticking to the ground with each step, and the bass of the song is thumping so loud he feels it in his heartbeat. He peels his eyes away from the scene and looks up at Will. He gulps down the bile in his throat- Will was looking down at him and suddenly he’s never been hotter.
“Hm?”
“Can I kiss you?” Will’s body is pressed against him, although the space is so crowded there isn’t any place for him to go otherwise.
His hand is on her thigh.
“Yeah.”
Their lips crash. Nico struggles to keep up with Will’s eagerness, he moves swiftly against him, pushing them closer than he thought was possible. He wraps his arms around his neck and Will’s arms link around his waist. He falls into the messy kiss. Teeth graze against his lips.
Jason’s hand is on her thigh.
Nico pulls away hastily- the music is messing with his head. Or maybe it’s the Swedish vodka he downed an hour ago finally coming back up. The crowd shoves him backward and he fights to regain his balance, stumbling.
“You okay? Darling?” Will tucks a strand of hair behind Nico’s ear and his eyes are struck with concern.
“It’s really hot in here.”
“I know.”
“I can’t breathe.”
“Let’s get some fresh air-” He grips tightly onto Will’s hand as he leads him through the crowd.
“Will?” Nico doesn’t feel his feet stepping in front of him, numbness taking over his body. The flashing LEDs blind his vision- blue and green strobes fading in and out.
The humidity of the room swelters down on him, filling his lungs with damp air.
Each ounce of alcohol in his system makes itself known, and blackness takes over.
-
When he comes to, he’s in his bed with the lights off. The sun is peering down behind the curtains and he needs to throw up again. Thankfully, there’s a bin conveniently placed next to him.
An argument is amidst in the hallway, which he figures was the commotion that woke him in the first place. He discovers a white round pill on the side of his nightstand and some water. When he reaches to take the pill, he finds that his muscles are sore. After another attempt to reach for the night stand, he groans in pain, and decides to stay laying down, looking up at the glow in the dark stars on the ceiling.
“You are a fucking idiot!” Jason is whisper-shouting. It’s a tone that Nico has only heard once before.
“At least I was actually next to him last night unlike you- I didn’t know he couldn’t handle his alcohol. Don’t get on your high horse like you’re any better than me right now.”
“What was he drinking?”
“He only had like two beers and two shots- then we played pong and went to dance. Honest.”
“You played pong? With who? Mike and the rest of the boys were with me.”
“Some freshmen, they offered him a drink.”
Silence falls over the two of them.
“Did he drink it?”
Will hesitates. “I think so.”
“You fucking dumbass! It’s not alcohol poisoning, they roofied him. You’re lucky that he’s even alive right now.”
“Can I see him?”
Jason sighs heavily before speaking again.
“You’re lucky I didn’t punch you right now for that stupid ass question. Leave before I change my mind.”
“Look, Jason, I really didn’t think-”
“Solace. If you’re still standing in front of me in thirty seconds I’m going to shove your head into the wall.”
Another moment of silence takes over the hallway. Nico should get up and try to get Jason to back down. Unfortunately, his muscles can’t even bring him to sit up in the bed, much less relax a fuming Jason.
The door swings open, and Jason is muttering to himself a string of swear words that Nico doesn’t recognize. He brings a hand to brush through his hair- it’s grown almost two inches out and Jason’s had to taper in the sides once already. By Jason’s change of clothes, Nico infers that it’s the next morning.
He tries to speak, but finds that his voice is too hoarse to make out any words. He clears his throat, and Jason looks up from his desk.
“Don’t try to speak yet, Neeks.” He rushes over to the side of the bed and helps him sit up. Nico moans in pain.
“I- I can’t.” Nico whispers out, voice rough. His muscles are burning and the room is still spinning as he closes his eyes. How dumb could he be?
“It’s okay. Can you drink some water?” Jason rummages through his own desk and pulls out a straw for Nico to use. Guilt eats at Nico’s chest, the boy was doing too much for him- it was his fault he was stupid and took a drink from a stranger.
He winces when the water touches his tongue, realizing how dehydrated his body is. Jason’s expression is straight as he watches him down the entire glass.
“You were roofied.”
“I know.”
Jason’s eyes widen ever so slightly, seemingly embarrassed to have been eavesdropped on.
“I’m sorry.” Nico says.
“What? No. Why are you sorry- It’s no one’s fault here besides that guy you played pong with.” Nico knew better than to drink that thing- besides being poured in a red solo cup, it tasted like gasoline and coke.
Nico turns to face him with the least amount of movement possible. “It’s not Will’s fault either.” Jason’s expression hardens.
“That’s different.”
“How?” Jason groans out of frustration, and sets down the glass.
“It- It just is. He has a crush on you- he likes you but he didn’t even take care of you.”
Nico turns back to face the ceiling. He recalls vomiting into the bathroom toilet in their dorm- then a loud argument between him and Jason. The image of Jason groaning in frustration at whatever Nico had said prior comes to his mind. Whatever they were fighting about, Nico was definitely not lucid for it.
“You know better than to take drinks from strangers, Neeks. What happened?”
“I- I don't know. I wasn't thinking.”
“Did he pressure you to do anything?” Nico's unsure of if Jason's referring to Will or the beer pong guy.
“No one forced me to do anything- I was just stupid and drunk.”
Jason fidgets around and begins to look away from Nico.
“Do you remember fighting?” For some reason, the face of the girl on the couch with Jason last night comes to mind. He furrows his brows, unable to recall any more of the argument.
“Not really.” Nico cranes his neck to observe Jason’s expression. “I thought I was going to be the one taking care of you tonight.”
Jason exhales, with a small smile. “I guess you owe me a blackout now.”
They aren’t the biggest party animals in the first place, it’s rare for them to join in. Halloween was an exception that Nico allowed for- he loved the holiday. In Italy Halloween is barely celebrated, if even at all. It was one of the greatest cultural differences he experienced when he came here for the first time. That and the entire concept of a house party over a nightclub that closed at six in the morning.
“How did we get home?”
“You’re pretty light.” Fuck. Nico must've blushed too hard, because Jason immediately adds on. “It’s no big deal.”
“My head is pounding.” This conversation needs to be over now- and never brought up again.
“Get some rest.” Jason pulls the covers over him, and Nico finally gets a look at his own body- he’s not wearing the cowboy vest or jeans. Instead, one of Jason’s purple camp tees is slung over his shoulder. How embarrassing, not only did Jason carry him back home, he also undressed and dressed him.
“Thanks, Jace.” Nico mumbles as he drifts off to sleep again.