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Jason wasn’t particularly fond of trains. He preferred flying when he could, but Thalia’s archery competition was only a five hour train ride away from his university, and seeing his sister win the gold medal had definitely been worth it. Hell, seeing his sister at all had been worth it. The train he had arrived on had been fairly empty, though. This one was pretty full.
He looked around the car, finding two empty seats, one beside a scrawny goth boy who looked a couple of years younger than Jason, and another beside a fat old man vaguely smelling of alcohol. It wasn’t much of a decision, really.
“Is this seat taken?” he asked the dark clad boy, who looked up at him in surprise, taking an earbud out of his ear.
“Sorry?” he asked, and Jason repeated the question. “No, it’s fine,” he said, moving his bag out of the way so that Jason could sit down.
“Thanks,” Jason said, but the boy just nodded and looked away again, putting the earbud back in. Jason could hear the sound of bass and drums from them, but not enough to know what the boy was listening to. Not that it mattered. He clearly wasn’t interested in conversation.
Jason sighed and prepared himself for five boring hours. He had brought books, and now fished out a copy of the Iliad from his bag. He had read it before, of course, but he had an exam to prepare for now. Which meant the Iliad, the Odyssey and a couple of others.
About two and a half hour later the train slowed down, and then stopped. Jason looked out the window, confused to see no station outside. Maybe they were waiting for another train to pass by?
The boy beside him was reacting in a similar way, looking around with a frown before taking his earbuds out. “Did they say why we stopped?” he asked.
“Not yet,” Jason said. “They will probably announce it in a few minutes.”
As it turned out it didn’t take a few minutes. The speakers came on with a bing just as he finished speaking.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, we are experiencing to technical difficulties. The problem will be addressed as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconveniences that may occur as a result of this delay. Thank you for your patience.”
There was a collective groan in the car as the message ended. “Not again,” the boy sitting beside him muttered.
“Does this happen often?” Jason asked him, and he shrugged.
“Either that or I’m just really unlucky,” he said. “Of my last five journeys three have been delayed, and two seriously so.”
“You travel a lot then?” Jason asked, honestly happy the boy had finally decided to talk to him.
“I visit my father once a month,” the boy shrugged. “It’s about six hours by train from the university.”
“CHBU?” Jason asked, smiling when the boy nodded. “Me too. You’re a first-year?”
“Yeah, major still undecided,” the boy said, then gestured towards the book in Jason’s lap. “You’re a Classics major?”
“Yep, two years of studying and I finally figured out what I want to do,” Jason laughed. “So you’re in no hurry.”
The boy gave him a pale smile. “That’s not what most people say.”
“Well, I’m not most people,” Jason smiled, holding out his hand. “Jason Grace, by the way.”
“Nico di Angelo,” the boy said, shaking his hand.
They talked a lot during the next two hours, occasionally stopping to groan as the announcer told them they were still working on a solution to the technical problem. Jason realized quickly that Nico didn’t like talking about himself. He had a half sister named Hazel with whom he shared a flat, but otherwise Nico said nothing about his personal life. Instead they talked about books, movies and TV-shows, and had a long conversation about their favorite heroes from old Greek literature.
“Well, Heracles would be the obvious choice, I guess,” Jason said.
Nico smirked. “I’d say the obvious choice for you would be Jason.”
“I get that a lot. People are always asking where I left my Argonauts,” Jason laughed. “But I don’t like what he did to Medea, even if she turned out to be a homicidal lunatic in some versions.”
“I don’t think Heracles killing his wife is any better,” Nico pointed out. “What about Perseus? He seems less of a jerk.”
“True, but I’ve never really liked him. I don’t know why,” Jason said. “Orpheus then?”
Nico rolled his eyes. “Gold star for trying. Odysseus?”
A while later the conductor announced that another train had been sent from the nearest station to pull them there, and that they were expected to switch trains there.
“Finally something is happening,” Nico sighed. “I was beginning to think we would be stuck here all night.”
“At least the company is good,” Jason grinned, getting an incredulous stare from Nico. Jason raised an eyebrow at him. “What?”
“You can’t just say stuff like that,” Nico said, shaking his head.
Jason frowned at him, confused. “Why not? I mean it. This would have been a hell of a lot more boring without you here.”
Nico looked away from him, his face turning red. For the first time it hit Jason that the boy he was sitting beside was really cute. Sure he was skinny and had dark circles under his eyes, but there was something adorable about the way he blushed while looking down at his hands and nervously fidgeting with the skull rings on his fingers. Jason wondered if it would be inappropriate to ask for his phone number before they parted.
“Hey, no need to be embarrassed about it,” Jason said, smiling at the boy. “Or is it that you’d rather I wasn’t here?”
“If I didn’t want to talk to you I wouldn’t talk to you,” Nico said, rolling his eyes. “I’m sort of surprised you want to talk to me, to be honest. You kinda look like the jocks that tried to make me bath in the toilets in High School.”
“Gee, thanks,” Jason said, making a face. “Well, I was a jock, but I’ve never done that to anyone. Besides, if you didn’t notice from all the talk about Greek heroes, I’m kinda a big nerd.”
Nico gave him a small smile at that. “I did notice,” he said, and Jason grinned at him.
About half an hour later the other train apparently arrived, and started pulling them forward. They reached the station some time later, and followed the stream of people as they switched trains, sitting down beside each other again.
“At least two hours left,” Nico said, yawning loudly. It was midnight already, and Jason was getting tired as well. Nico’s yawning was pretty contagious. It wasn’t a big surprise when Nico’s head fell down on Jason’s shoulder a while later, and Jason soon fell asleep as well. He woke up briefly every time a new station was announced, but then went back to sleep, resting his head on top of Nico’s. His hair smelled like oranges, and Jason found he really liked it.
He woke up a final time as the mechanical voice announced the name of his station, so he gently shook Nico awake, trying not the be obvious about how cute he thought the boy was, all sleepy and disoriented.
“This is our stop,” Jason said gently, and Nico nodded absently, moving like a drunken man as he collected his bags and followed Jason off the train. Once they were both standing on the platform watching the people hurry past them, Jason hesitated.
“How are you going to get home?” he asked. Nico shrugged, more awake now that they were outdoors in the cold night air.
“I’ll have to wait for a taxi,” he said. “I planned on taking a bus, but they don’t go anymore.”
“The line is going to be really long, with all these people. And it’s Saturday night,” Jason pointed out. Nico frowned at him, shivering a bit in his dark brown Aviators jacket.
“It’ll still be faster than walking to my apartment.”
“But not faster than walking to mine. I live like twenty minutes away,” Jason said. “You can crash at my place if you want.”
“I don’t really know you,” Nico said, sounding hesistant.
“I’m not going to murder or molest you,” Jason smiled. “You can send my info to your sister as insurance if you want.”
Nico smiled a little at that. “If you’re sure you don’t mind…”
“I don’t,” Jason said. “Come on, let’s go.”
Jason carried his own as well as one of Nico’s bags as they walked. Nico was still shivering from the cold, and Jason was relieved when they reached his apartment some twenty five minutes later.
“Sorry about the mess,” Jason said as they entered, and Nico scoffed as he looked around.
“This isn’t a mess. You should see Hazel’s and my apartment,” he said. “That’s a mess.”
Jason smiled at that, then hesitated. His apartment was small, only one room with barely enough room for a bed, a couch and a small dinner table, but he managed.
“You can take the bed, I’ll take the couch,” Jason said.
“No need to be a gentleman, I’m not a girl,” Nico said, rolling his eyes. “I’m not going to chase you out of your own bed. I’ll take the couch.”
Jason wanted to argue, but Nico had a point. It wasn’t like Jason would give up his bed if Leo or Percy came by, after all. Then again he had no interest in getting them into his bed, either.
Jason shook his head to clear it. “Make yourself at home,” he told Nico. “I’m heading to the bathroom.”
Nico was wearing a black pajama when Jason came back, and it honestly made him smile. “Do you ever wear any other colors?” he asked.
“No,” Nico answered sheepishly, then disappeared into the bathroom. Jason was already in bed when he reappeared.
“Wake me if you need anything, okay?” Jason said, yawning slightly. “Also, wake me before you leave tomorrow, or I might panic.”
Nico laughed at that, but the lights were still on, and Jason could see him blushing. “Fine. I will,” he muttered, and Jason lay down in bed, satisfied with the answer. Nico turned off the lights a few minutes later, and Jason quickly fell asleep to the distant sound of Nico breathing.
He was shaken awake rather roughly the following morning. Sleepy and disoriented, he looked up to see Nico standing by his bed, blushing slightly. He was already dressed.
“Hey,” Jason said. “What’s going on?”
“You said to wake you before leaving,” Nico said, looking away from him, embarrassed for some reason.
“Right,” Jason said, reaching for his journal and a pen from the nightstand, ripping out a page and dotting down his phone number. He handed the page to Nico. “Call me sometime. We could hang out.”
Nico visibly hesitated, looking down at the paper. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“Oh,” Jason said, feeling pretty hurt. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
“That’s not it. It’s just… You don’t want to hang out with me,” Nico said, then took a deep breath. “I’m gay, okay?”
Jason blinked. “Oh,” he said again. “Well, call me about a date then.”
Nico stared at him in stunned silence for a long while. “That’s not funny,” he finally said.
“I’m not joking. I think you’re cute,” Jason said honestly. “If you don’t like me you can just say no, though.”
“Have you even seen yourself? Of course I like you, that’s why I didn’t think it was a good idea,” Nico said, blushing deeply. “I was sure you were straight.”
“Bisexual,” Jason shrugged, grinning widely. “Can I have your number then?”
“Sure,” Nico said, writing it down on the open page in Jason’s journal. His hands were shaking a little, and his face was still red.
“Is something wrong?” Jason asked, and Nico give him a nervous look.
“Sorry, it’s just that I haven’t really done the whole dating thing in a while. Or at all,” Nico said. “Are you sure this isn’t just overexposure from yesterday?”
Jason chuckled, reaching out to touch Nico’s arm. “Anyone ever told you you’ve got self-esteem issues?” he said. “I already told you I think you’re cute. And I liked hanging out with you.”
“I’ve got more issues than that,” Nico said hesitantly, but he didn’t take his arm away, so Jason pulled him down to sit on the bed.
“I’m looking forward to finding out about them,” he said. “Would you mind if I kissed you?”
“Really?” Nico asked, wide eyed, then blushed again. “No. I mean I wouldn’t mind.”
“Good,” Jason said, leaning in to push their lips together. It took a moment for Nico to respond, and he was pretty awkward about it, clearly inexperienced. Jason didn’t mind, though part of him wondered how someone as cute as Nico hadn’t had dozens of people kiss him already. Perhaps there was something Jason didn’t know. He shrugged to himself and concentrated on kissing Nico instead. If there was something, he would find out in time.
Nico pulled back after a while, a bit short of breath. “I already called for a taxi. I should go,” he said.
Jason was tempted to ask him to stay, but it was probably better not to rush things, so he nodded. “I’ll call you later today, okay?” he said.
Nico gave him a shy smile. “That’d be nice,” he said, then got up from the bed and collected his things, hesitating in the doorway. “Thanks for letting me stay,” he said, causing Jason to grin.
“Anytime. Really,” he said. “I hope you’ll come back soon.”
“I might just do that,” Nico said. “Talk to you later.”
He walked out and closed the door behind him, and Jason could hear his steps moving away in the hallway outside. Jason threw himself back down on the bed, grinning widely.
Who would have thought a three-hour train delay would turn out to be one of the best things that ever happened to him?