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Jason Grace was happy. Happy was, of course, a relative concept – he’d experienced it in short bursts at Camp Jupiter, then at Camp Half-Blood with Leo – with Piper. But that happiness had always felt like it had an expiry date. There was always another monster, another quest… another death. But here, at Egarton Day and Boarding School, Jason felt safe; he felt comfortable. Sure, there’d been a few monsters – a rogue teacher here and there – but generally, it had been quiet. For the first time - that he could remember at least - Jason felt he might have a shot at having a normal life.
Here, he wasn’t Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, hero of Olympus. Nobody here worshipped the ground he walked on. They weren’t afraid to look him in the eye, to talk to him, or challenge him. Here, he didn’t have an intimidating father everyone half-feared, half-worshipped. He didn’t have a fancy title or a beautiful girlfriend. Here, he was just Jason, and he was satisfied with that. Maybe ‘satisfied’ wasn’t quite the same thing as ‘happy’, but it was pretty damn close.
Edgarton was a fresh start for Jason. He’d made new friends, joined the lacrosse and tennis teams, briefly considered joining the drama club before chickening out, found that he actually enjoyed schoolwork - and was good at it too. It was quiet, free from distraction and was beginning to feel an awful lot like home. He’d stayed in contact with his old life, of course, and still sent out regular postcards to Thalia and Reyna – plus Piper and the rest of the seven and even, once in a while, Nico.
The son of Hades rarely responded; he sent Jason updates every now and then about various goings-on at Camp Half-Blood, sometimes attached to a sentence or two about how he and Will were doing. Nico’s answers were always brief, to the point, but Jason still always felt honoured when he saw his name written out in that familiar, messy old-fashioned scrawl. Nico’s trust was a rarely bestowed gift, and it wasn’t something that Jason took lightly.
Still, Jason was well aware that the son of Hades had some serious boundaries. He was always careful not to push his friendship on him too much, mostly for fear that Nico would push back. When Nico pushed back, it rarely went well for the other person involved. He had always hoped the younger boy would warm up to him more, but as a general rule, Jason tried not to expect anything from Nico. He didn’t expect Nico to reply to every one of his postcards, or for Nico to want to be his friend. He certainly never expected to arrive at his dorm room late one afternoon after tennis practise to find Nico passed out in his bed.
But there he was: messy dark hair, longer than when Jason had seen him last, pale skin, not nearly as pale as it had been when they first met, and those same deep brown eyes, unchanged, fluttering open as Jason opened the door.
“Nico. Hi,” were the only words Jason managed to summon as he stood, awkwardly in the doorway.
A visible panic spread throughout Nico’s body as he slowly regained consciousness.
“I’m sorry,” Nico offered quickly, sitting up. “I should have asked before coming here… Shit, I definitely shouldn’t be in your bed. I just… haven’t shadow-travelled this far in a while and I think I overestimated my abilities and as soon as I got here I just –“
“It’s okay,” Jason’s voice softened. “You’re always welcome here. Were you planning on staying the night?”
Nico visibly relaxed, “Thank you. And yes – I mean, if that’s okay.”
“Of course.” Jason said simply, before cracking a smile. “The way you look right now, I’m not sure I would’ve let you risk a trip back anyway.”
“Gee thanks,” Nico tried to look offended, but couldn’t mask his amusement. “I see you haven’t lost your charm.”
Jason felt a little surge of pride as he watched the younger boy’s lips curl into a smile. Nico di Angelo had smiled at Jason, because of something Jason had said. The thought made Jason feel warm inside.
“It’s really good to see you actually,” Jason confessed, closing the door behind him. “I haven’t really seen much of the old crew since I came here. I… I like it here and all. And I came here to get away from a lot of that but… Well, it’s good to see you.”
He shot Nico a shy smile as he moved across the room to prop up his tennis racket in the corner next to his lacrosse stick.
“It’s good to see you too,” Nico admitted, quietly. Jason unslung his duffle bag and returned his attention to Nico.
“I just had tennis practice and I’m really gross so I’m not going to go in for a hug but, just know that I totally would right now otherwise.”
Nico feigned an exaggerated sigh of relief, “I’m safe.”
“This time,” Jason wiggled his eyebrows.
Nico rolled his eyes. There was a softness behind it though, a silent thank you for not making this a big deal.
“I’d better go take a quick shower if that’s okay -“ Jason continued, casually.
Nico nodded quickly.
“- and it might be best if you stay in here, sorry. I’m not technically supposed to have visitors in the room. I know it’s not exactly the roomiest space but-”
“It’s no problem,” Nico cut him off, offering Jason a small smile. “Really. Thank you.”
Jason responded with a simple, understanding nod. He paused, gaze lingering on Nico. There was clearly something more the boy wanted to say, and Jason desperately wanted to ask him what it was. Don’t push your luck, he reminded himself.
He quickly collected his towel and a change of clothes, told Nico to make himself at home, and made his way to the showers down the hall.
As Jason showered, all he could think about was Nico di Angelo. There were a million questions in his mind – the first ones, of course, being, what happened? And why was Nico here? What Jason was even more desperate to know was why the younger boy had come to him – not to Hazel, or Reyna, but to Jason. Whatever the reason, Jason was determined to let Nico come to him with it.
When Jason returned to his room, he found Nico sitting on the floor, back against the wall, reading one of Jason’s history books.
“That’s an interesting one. You hungry?” Jason asked.
Nico looked up startled, “I uh… hadn’t really thought about it.”
“Well I dropped into the dining hall on my way back and…” Jason procured a bundle from his pocket and handed it to Nico, who accepted it wordlessly.
“Pizza night,” Jason explained, as Nico peeled back the carefully wrapped layers of napkins. “I hope you like pepperoni.”
“Thanks,” Nico studied Jason quietly. “Look at you, Mr Rulebreaker all of a sudden.”
“Only for you,” Jason chuckled. He gestured at the space on the floor next to Nico, “Mind if I join you? I have some physics homework I gotta finish up.”
“It’s your room,” Nico shrugged. “You hardly need my blessing.”
“No.” Jason smiled. “But I should like to know I have it all the same”
“Okay Mr Darcy,” Nico laughed. “You have my blessing.”
“Mr Bingley,” Jason gently corrected before sitting down next to Nico with his physics books. “We’re studying Pride and Prejudice in English.”
Nico snorted, “Now, that I have to see.”
“You know you could, if you wanted to,” Jason nudged him, “Go back to school, I mean. I reckon you’d actually like some of the classes: English, History, Art, maybe?”
Nico laughed, “I haven’t been to school since the 30s.”
“True, the paperwork would be a nightmare,” Jason mused. “Still, I’m sure we could figure it out if you really wanted to go.”
“Honestly, I’ve never really thought about it.”
“Well, you should think about it,” Jason nudged him again, softer this time.
“I’ll think about,” Nico agreed, his expression sincere. He started to nibble at his pizza, taking only the smallest bites. It was only in that moment that Jason realised just how fond he had become of Nico di Angelo.
Nico nudged Jason tentatively. “Shouldn’t you be doing your physics homework?”
Jason sighed. “Don’t remind me. I was perfectly happy for a moment there, and you had to go and remind me.”
“You toppled the black throne of Kronos and destroyed the Titan Krios with your bare hands. I’m sure you can handle your physics homework."
“If you say so.”
Jason yawned and opened his textbook with an exaggerated reluctance. Out of the corner of his eye, Jason could see Nico looking at him with an odd expression – affection, perhaps. Jason hid a smile behind his book.
They sat in comfortable silence for a time, keeping themselves busy. Once in a while, Jason would mutter a frustrated curse under his breath. Nico would just laugh and continue taking small bites out of his pizza. Their shoulders brushed up against each other every now and then. Jason always pulled away quickly, trying to respect Nico’s boundaries, but eventually, Nico started leaning into him – just slightly, and Jason relaxed into the touch.
When Jason finished his homework, he didn’t particularly feel like moving, and so he just sat there, flicking through his class notes.
Nico was the one who broke the silence.
“Thank you,” he whispered, with a shy glance over to the older boy.
Jason looked up, surprised, “You know, you don’t have to keep thanking me. I’m serious, you’re always welcome here.”
“I know,” Nico admitted. “I’m just… really glad I came to you, is all. Hazel would have asked me a million questions by now. Not that that’s… bad or anything. I’m just glad I came to you.”
Jason desperately wanted to ask the question. He had promised himself he wouldn’t, but…
“I suppose, if I asked questions… you’d have to stop thanking me.” It was Jason’s gentle way of asking permission.
Nico didn’t answer for a moment, and Jason was scared he’d pushed too much.
To Jason’s relief, however, Nico hummed in agreement. “I suppose I would.”
Before he could talk himself out of it, Jason took the plunge. “Did Will break up with you?”
Nico hesitated to respond.
“Nico I swear to the gods, if Will broke up with you I’m going to go over to that camp right now and –“
“No!” Nico interjected quickly. “No, he… He told me was in love with me.”
“Oh,” Jason wasn’t expecting that.
“Yeah,” Nico shifted, clearly uncomfortable.
“And you just came here?” Jason’s asked slowly. “You know I’m always gonna be on your side, but I gotta admit I feel a little sorry for the guy.”
“I didn’t ‘just come here,’” Nico defended. “I… told him I needed to think about it, then avoided him for a week, and then finally, after he cornered me, I broke up with him, because no, I don’t love him, and don’t see myself getting to that stage anytime soon and I thought it would be for the best. Then I came here.”
“Well, that’s much better then.”
“Shut up,” Nico elbowed him.
“Kidding,” Jason raised his hands in surrender. “I actually think that’s very mature of you - the last part anyway.”
“You do?” Nico seemed surprised.
“Yeah, I do,” Jason stated simply. “You were honest. That was really brave.”
Nico twisted the skull ring around his finger, “Well he didn’t take it too well.”
Jason didn’t know what to say.
He supposed the truth was the best policy.
He shrugged, “Its’s better to be upfront with him now than have everything fall to pieces later.”
Nico was silent, and then, “…Is that what happened with you and Piper?”
Jason was taken aback by the question.
“Kind of. I guess so, yeah.”
Again, Nico didn’t respond immediately. He seemed deep in thought.
Jason didn’t mind the silence, but eventually, Nico broke it, “I suppose you’ve got ladies lining up for you now you’re officially ‘back on the market.’”
Jason supposed that was Nico’s best attempt at straight-guy-speak. The underlying question beneath Nico’s words left Jason surprised. If there was one thing he never expected from Nico di Angelo, it was for him to be remotely interested in Jason’s love life.
“- Though I don’t suppose you get a lot of ladies around here,” Nico wrinkled his nose. He looked cute, Jason decided. Then Jason was so surprised by that thought that it took him a moment to realise Nico was still looking at him, expectantly.
“No,” Jason said quickly. “Not really, no.”
“Good.” Nico spoke with a decisiveness that surprised Jason. “Then we’re both miserable. Not that I want you to be miserable. I just don’t want to be the only miserable one, you know?”
Jason chuckled. “I wouldn’t say I’m miserable, but sure.”
“You don’t have a girlfriend; I don’t have a boyfriend. Close enough.”
“I could have a boyfriend,” Jason suggested casually.
Nico froze, “You… What?”
“I’ve had a lot of thinking time lately. I uh-” Jason scratched the back of his neck, avoiding Nico’s gaze. “I’m pretty sure I’m bisexual.”
“Really? That’s…” Nico’s voice was suddenly very soft. Jason could see his brain working at ten times its normal speed, trying to process what Jason had said. “That’s really cool Jason. Thanks for telling me.”
“You’re the first one I’ve told actually,” Jason admitted. He thought back to a time not so long ago, when their roles had been reversed – when Nico was the one making the confessions. Jason could tell from Nico’s expression that the younger boy was thinking the same thing. He reached out a hand to cover Nico’s smaller one, half-expecting the younger boy to retract it. He didn’t. Instead, he laced their fingers together and squeezed Jason’s hand gently. Jason felt that familiar sense of pride rushing back to him.
“I’m glad it was you,” Jason murmured. “That I told first, I mean. It feels… right, you know? With everything.”
“I know what you mean.” Nico replied, not quite meeting Jason’s eye. Then, to Jason’s astonishment, the younger boy pulled him into a tight hug.
“I’m glad it was me too,” Nico’s muffled voice spoke into Jason’s shoulder.
Jason rested his chin softly against Nico’s hair. It was remarkable how well they fit together. He was almost disappointed when Nico pulled back with a poorly concealed yawn.
“Hey,” Jason nudged him. “You should really get some sleep.”
Nico looked like he might argue, and so Jason was firm when he continued. “You’ve come a long way. Take the bed. I have some work I still need to finish up.”
Nico still looked like he might argue.
“Please,” Jason added.
Nico conceded with small nod and rose to his feet shakily.
Within minutes, the younger boy was fast asleep.
Jason sat in an armchair in the corner of the room, reading quietly. He had fallen asleep on that chair many a time while studying, and he was quite content to sleep there for as long as Nico needed a bed.
His gaze flickered over to Nico every now and then. Lying comfortably nestled among Jason’s sheets, the younger boy looked so small. Nico had surprised Jason today more times than he could count, but somehow in all the best ways he could imagine.
As a general rule, Jason tried not to expect anything from Nico di Angelo. That wasn’t going to change, but perhaps after today, Jason would let himself hope.