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Percy was so exhausted.
Percy hadn't had a good sleep the night before because of the stupid overtime in his office. He'd had to be the one to cook and clean and do grocery shopping all by himself since Annabeth was out of town for an Architecture convention.
He felt like he hadn't slept for a full week, he missed his lovely girlfriend, and he was so fucking exhausted.
Which was partially the reason he almost didn't recognize Nico di Angelo at the departmental store. The other reason was that Nico looked totally different from when they'd seen each other the last time, which was about six years ago. No longer did he look like the scrawny little boy in high school.
Nico had gained a bit of height and put on a healthy weight. He looked fit, no longer with sunken cheeks and deathly pale skin. His hair was longer too, and messy, but not in a way that make him look homeless. The only thing remotely resembling the Nico from six years ago was his dressing style; he still stuck to his dark and black aesthetic, it seemed.
Percy called out to him, but he didn't seem to hear the first few times. When he tapped Nico on the shoulder, he turned around, his expression morphing from surprise to almost happy.
"Nico. I can't believe it's you. How've you been?" Percy asked.
"Hey Percy, I've been good. You know, the usual." Percy didn't bother to mention that he looked way better than usual. Then again, he hadn't exactly been in contact with Nico for the past six years, so who was he to say anything?
They spent the next twenty minutes or so catching up to each other, asking and answering generic questions one would normally find at a high school reunion.
It's been so long, hasn't it? Who else have you been in contact with? Where did you say you live now? Do you know what happened to that one guy you had one class with? No? Well here's what happened...
When they checked out from the store, Percy asked if they could catch up for coffee.
"Actually, I live really close from here. We could hang out there," Nico answered.
"Is it really that shocking?"
"No— not really. I didn't know you wanted to be one."
"Yeah well, it's not like I planned it since middle school or anything."
"Still, I never imagined you as an engineer."
They had been catching up with the lost years for the past hour now. He learnt of Nico's life, about his ongoing final year as an undergrad in the university, his structural engineering degree, how he came to live in the apartment without a roommate, and his part time job in a coffee shop nearby.
In return, Percy told him of his life— about Annabeth, his job as a marine biologist, about his girlfriend, the little house they planned to buy for themselves over the next summer, about planning to propose to his girlfriend soon. Oh, and did he mention his beautiful girlfriend Annabeth?
They'd talked about everything, save for few things that were painfully obvious like a blue elephant in the room.
"Nico, we never talked about—" Percy started, but Nico cut him off with a stern look.
"—If this is about me having a crush on you in high school, save it. I've been over you for many years."
"What? No not that." Percy suddenly felt nervous, more than he'd felt when he first approached Nico today. It had always been a taboo topic between them, something to be acknowledged but never addressed. "About your sister."
Percy felt Nico stiffen beside him. Even after almost a decade, Percy still remembered the car accident that had taken Bianca's life. While he hadn't been in the driving seat, he had promised Nico to take care of his sister. When he had been unable to keep the promise, he'd felt responsible. And Nico had blamed him for many years to come. Probably still to this date.
It was also a part of the reason why he hadn't been in contact with Nico all these years. As much as he'd like to blame it on him moving to a different state and getting busy building a life for himself, it was mostly because of the guilt. And fear.
"I don't blame you anymore, if that's what you're thinking," Nico said after what seemed like hours, "I was a kid Percy, it was stupid of me to accuse you of anything, even more so because you were a kid yourself."
Percy hadn't been expecting that. He'd prepared for any residual bitterness and accusation, but since Nico hadn't given any, he didn't know how to respond. "But— I wish I could have—"
"Nope, I'm not hearing any of that self deprecation shit, Jackson." Percy watched Nico's face, attempting to get a read on the man even if he was insanely great at hiding them. "It took me a long time to move from all that, you know. Her absence will always haunt me, but at least now I know I can be truly happy."
His face now betrayed a hint of pain, which was to be expected. The pain seemed to be accompanied by something else— resignation? acceptance? Hope?
"And I am. Happy, that is."
The small smile on Nico's lips was enough to convince Percy that he was indeed being honest. At the same time it felt like the smile wasn't directed to him, but something or someone Nico subconsciously thought of when he heard the word 'happy'.
Percy wondered what the thing was.
And just like that, Percy felt a hundred times lighter. Now that all the tension and guilt was gone, the previous exhaustion was finally catching up to him. He yawned once, twice, thrice, and finally at the fourth yawn Nico urged him to take a short nap on the couch while he prepared something to eat.
"I'd been planning on baking cookies today, will that be okay for you?"
"Sure, I'd love that," Percy started, and got a little hesitant, "I— could you um—"
"—Yes Percy, I'll make them blue," Nico rolled his eyes in exasperation.
God bless Nico di Angelo, was Percy's last coherent thought before he was invited for a deep sleep by the couch.
Percy had been dreaming about a blue cookie castle by a chocolate-filled ocean when he was woken up by a soft weight on his head. It felt suspiciously like the kisses Annabeth woke him up to every morning. Slowly, he opened his eyes, his lazy smile broadening when he took in Annabeth's golden blonde hair and her tan skin and her beautiful blue eyes— wait blue?
Annabeth did not have blue eyes.
"Who the fuck are you?" Percy heard a scream that startled him into falling on the floor and land on his back. Ouch!
Annabeth did not have such deep voice either.
As he slowly lifted himself off the floor, he faced the source of the scream and the light forehead kiss. A man more or less his height stood before him, with wide eyes and flushed cheeks. His shaggy blond hair was all over the place, and looked terrified and defensive at the same time for some reason.
Yep. Definitely not Annabeth.
When he was sure he was fully awake, Percy took a long look into the living room. Right. He had been at Nico's apartment. That still didn't explain the Not-Annabeth man standing in front of him with half shocked and half scandalized eyes. Who the hell was this guy? And did he just kiss him while he was asleep?
"Who the hell are you?" They said at the same time, followed by an almost synchronized yell of "I asked you first!"
For the record, Not-Annabeth said it a few seconds earlier, but whatever.
When the shock seemed to wear off, the man looked around and picked up the nearest vase sitting on the table. Was he planning to—
"Woah wait, calm down dude!" Percy said, in what he considered his most placating tone, hands held up in surrender.
But Not-Annabeth (he really needed to address the guy as something else) only shifted back, his grip on the vase tightening by the second.
"Do not take a step further," the guy said, holding the vase like one would handle a baseball bat, "I won't hesitate to— Aghhh!" he screamed again, when the water in the vase drenched him and the floor beneath him.
Nope, the guy was definitely Not-Annabeth, his lovely wise girl would never do something as dumb.
But the guy didn't seem to hear or care that he was half-drenched in water. "Nico! There's an intruder on your couch!" he yelled at the kitchen door.
Wait, an intruder?
"Hey, I'm not the intruder here. Why else would I be sleeping instead of, I don't know, robbing the apartment or something?"
"That's exactly what an intruder would say. Just you wait until Nico comes here. Nico!"
Seriously, what did the guy think of himself? First he woke Percy up from that awesome dream (what was the dream about again?), and then proceeded to accuse him of intruding?
"Who even are you, man? And how'd you get in? Maybe you're the intruder here."
"I have a key, unlike you—"
"—So you stole the key and planned the whole—"
"Alright what the hell is going on there?" Nico's voice called out from the kitchen, appearing before them only a few seconds later. "Percy I swear to god if you don't keep it down— Will?" he addressed the man in question.
The blond— Will— seemed to shake off from his stupor and quickly skipped off to Nico's side. "Hey Neeks, thank gods you're here. You've got an intruder at your apartment," he said.
"Will, he's not—" Nico started, but Percy cut him off.
"—I told you I'm a guest here! And how do I know you're not the intruder?"
"Percy, he's not—" Nico tried, but was cut off again.
"—I live next door. And if you're his guest, how come I've never seen you around?"
"That's none of your business! And tell me next-door neighbour, do you go around kissing your neighbours when they're sleeping?"
That seemed to shut the guy off completely and redden his cheeks with a deep blush. 1-0 Percy.
"Wait— you kissed him?" Nico turned to Will with a look of— anger? shock? envy? Whatever it was, it seemed to have an effect on the Will guy. Percy would have felt sorry for him if he wasn't busy looking so smug.
"I didn't— I didn't know it was him! He had his face covered with the blanket, and— and all I could see was messy black hair. I thought it was you," Will managed to say all that in one breath.
I thought it was you, Percy mentally mimicked Will in his head. Hmph, like that would make things any better.
"You mean to say you were trying to kiss Nico? That's creepier than Edward watching Bella sleep. Do you always do that to your neighbours?" Percy's respect for the guy (which wasn't there to begin with) was rapidly decreasing every passing second.
"I don't do that— wait, did you just compare me to Edward Cullen?" The guy, to his credit, looked a little disgusted with himself. 2-0 Percy.
"I didn't compare, I said you were worse!"
"Well at least I don't sleep in other people's couch, Goldilocks!"
"Hey, I told you I was a guest here! And speaking of Goldilocks, have you seen that mop of your hair?"
"Do not bring my hair into this!"
"I will bring your hair into—"
"—Alright THAT'S IT!" The voice belonged to Nico. Nico who had been watching their argument like a tennis match, rubbing his temples as if that would magically make their fight go away. Nico, who had had enough of two people who didn't live there fighting in his apartment. Nico, who looked so scary he made Percy want to hide himself in the blanket and never come out.
Nico closed his eyes and took some deep breaths, one two three four, and waited a few more seconds. When he opened his eyes, Percy was relieved to find the hellish fury gone from his pupils.
"Will, put the vase down," Nico said, and adopted a stern look when Will opened his mouth, probably to argue, "Put. The vase. Down." A little reluctantly, he lowered the vase to the ground.
"Will, meet Percy. We studied in same middle and high school, and we were pretty close friends. We reconnected today after six years and I'd appreciate it if you didn't crack his head open."
Percy felt a surge of fondness bubble in his heart. Nico considered him a good friend even then, even after the whole series of unfortunate events. That Nico no longer blamed him for his sister and had moved on to consider him a friend meant a great deal to Percy.
Beat that, next-door neighbour Will!
"And Percy, this is Will," Nico continued. "He lives down the hall, we've been neighbours for almost three years, and he's—" here Percy could see Nico's eyes uncharacteristically soften and a smile more genuine than Percy had ever seen graced his lips, "He's my boyfriend. We've been together for about nine months."
Oh.
Well then.
"That's— that's really— I mean—" Percy tried really hard to get more than two words out at a time, but couldn't quite manage it.
"Got a problem with that?" Will stood in front of Nico now, his posture both protective and defensive. Percy tried not to be offended. Did this guy really think Percy would have a problem with it?
"What I meant was," Percy started, his glare directed towards Will shifting into a meaningful look when he turned to address Nico, "I'm really glad you found someone. You deserve to be happy."
"That means a lot, Percy," Nico smiled; a small one, but genuine all the same.
"Although you could do a lot better than this one, don't you think? I mean, this guy, really?" Percy couldn't help but tease.
Far from being offended or blushing like a teenager, Nico simply shrugged. "What can I say, I have the worst taste in men," he said coolly.
"I know right! You could totally—" That's when he realized what Nico was implying, "—Hey!"
"Wait, you're Percy? As in Jackson?" The guy Will said after some time. "Neeks here has told me plenty about you. It's a pleasure to meet you," Will held his hands in front of Percy for a handshake, acting as if he hadn't just threatened to break his head mere minutes ago. Percy resisted swatting his hand away, but couldn't gather enough willpower to shake his hands.
"Yeah, I'm Percy Jackson," he said with an air of arrogance, although that had nothing to do with him being Percy Jackson, "And I have known your boyfriend more than a decade longer than you."
"And I'm Will Solace," he continued, ignoring the handshake Percy had rejected, "I'm the person who's allowed to kiss Nico on his forehead while he's asleep without being creepy or a pervert." Will Solace looked too smug for his own good. He wrapped his arm around Nico and kissed on the top of his messy hair just to prove his point.
Percy was starting to like this guy.
"Alright, that's enough introduction," Nico said before anyone could say anything more, "Will, mind explaining why the floor's drenched along with your hoodie?"
"What can I say, I'm so wet for you."
That caused Nico to groan and grumble something about don't know why I bother, but Percy couldn't resist a snort. He'd have to save that line for Annabeth sometime.
Percy maybe liked this guy. Ew no, not like that.
"And Will, I gave you the key to my apartment for emergencies, not so you could barge in here and threaten my guests," Nico scolded Will. Whether Nico's glares had lost their effect or he hadn't put much effort when confronting Will, Percy would never know.
"I was under the impression that the key was a commitment until my apartment lease is up and I can finally move in with you, but alright." Even as Will said it, the words were less teasing and more affectionate. Nico gave him a look.
He knew that look. He'd seen it a million times in Annabeth's face every time he did or said dumb stuff. The look practically said "What am I going to do with you, dummy?", but in a really fond and loving way. That look was the only reason Percy did all the dumb stuff for Annabeth. Well, half of the times anyway.
But Percy could see from the way Nico's face lightened up when he talked to Will or when they shared a secret smile reserved only for each other. Hell, even the eye rolls Nico gave Will at his particularly annoying jokes were fond and affectionate, unlike the eye rolls he gave Percy that were just irritated and exasperated.
Even so, Percy couldn't help but be protective of his little brother.
"Now listen here Solace," Percy straightened his posture and donned the expression Annabeth liked to call 'that wolf-stare', "I'm sure you're a nice guy and all, but I love Nico like a brother. Be a good boyfriend to my brother, otherwise there will be consequences," he finished off with a steely gaze. Percy was proud of his threat.
Will Solace, it seemed, wasn't one to be fazed by such threats. No matter how much Percy meant it.
"You lost contact with him for six years. Do you know how much Neeks missed you guys? Now that you have reconnected, be a good brother to my boyfriend, otherwise there will be consequences," Will didn't miss a single beat, and levelled Percy's threatening glare with a determined look of his own. Neither backed down for a while.
Oh, he definitely liked this guy. Even if he was a bit of an idiot for Nico's taste.
"As much as I'd like to watch you guys fight for my sake, the cookies are ready," Nico began ushering them to the kitchen.
Percy stayed a little behind and walked slowly, mostly because he didn't want to feel like— for the lack of a better word— an intruder between them, but also to take in all that had happened today.
He'd met Nico after six years. The annoying little kid he'd met when he was ten had gone through so much within so little time. Even after keeping to himself for many years, Nico had managed to open up and let love into his life, found someone he could trust in Will.
Even if he had gotten off the wrong foot with Will Solace, he knew he would come to like the guy.
"Ewww why would you make the cookies blue? What kind of idiot wants to eat such an unusual coloured food unless they're held at gunpoint?" Percy heard Will's voice from inside the kitchen.
Aaand the guy just made himself unredeemable.