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“Nico, I’m home!” Percy dumped his bag by the door, stuffing his key in his pocket absentmindedly. He received no response from his adopted little brother, which wasn’t unusual, so he kicked his shoes off and started to prowl the kitchen for something to eat. But he stopped when he heard voices.
Two different voices, speaking far enough away that Percy couldn’t make out what they were saying. Nico had a friend over? He never had friends over.
The voices sounded like they were coming from the basement, so Percy creeped over to investigate, pushing the door open as quietly as he could. He lingered at the top of the steps and peered in.
Nico was sitting cross-legged on his bed, talking animatedly with a boy. The boy’s back was turned to Percy, so Percy couldn’t tell who he was-- all he could see was the boy’s mop of curly blonde hair.
“That’s ridiculous,” Nico was saying, shaking his head.
“I know, right! I specifically told her not to!” the boy replied. Then he sighed. “Oh well.”
Percy recognized the voice. Will Solace. He was in Nico’s grade, and on the JV basketball team. Since Percy was on the varsity basketball team, he sometimes caught the end of their practice when he came in for his own. Will seemed like a nice enough kid, but Percy didn’t know a lot about him.
So why was he in their house?
The two underclassmen were still absorbed in their conversation, so Percy decided to leave them be, going back to preparing a snack for himself and then settling onto the living room couch with his phone. He left the basement door open, though, to keep an ear on them.
About half an hour later, the two boys came clamoring up the stairs. When they passed Percy on their way to the door, Will stopped. “Oh! Hey, Percy!”
Percy nodded. “Good to see you, Will.”
“I didn’t hear you come home,” Nico said, standing behind Will.
“You seemed busy ,” Percy said, raising his eyebrows. “I figured I wouldn’t bother you.”
“I-- okay,” Nico muttered. He turned back to Will, clearly trying to shut Percy out of the conversation. “Thanks for coming over,” he told Will.
“Thank you for inviting me,” Will replied politely. Something about the recitation of those memorized phrases made Percy smile. “We should hang out more.”
“Yeah… that’d be nice,” Nico said quietly, shooting a glance in Percy’s direction. Was it just in Percy’s imagination, or was he blushing?
Nico finished saying goodbye to Will, and almost as soon as the door shut, Percy was up on his feet. “So…” he began. “You had Will over.”
“Yeah, so?” Nico said, already turning away. “I’m allowed to have friends, you know.”
Percy stepped in front of Nico, resting his hands on Nico’s shoulders to keep him from slipping away. “Hey, defensive! I was just curious. I didn’t even know you two were friends.” Nico rolled his eyes, but Percy continued. “So, if you know him well enough to invite him over, you two must have been talking for a while now, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Nico said grudgingly.
“But you’ve never told me about him before.”
“So?” Nico asked.
“So why haven’t you mentioned you were friends with him?”
Nico was silent. Percy had to bite his lip to keep from smiling.
“Is it because you like him?”
“Oh my god,” Nico groaned, pushing Percy out of the way.
“Hey, wait, I’m just wondering!” Percy called after him as he descended back into his basement bedroom. “You never tell me about your life!”
“Gee, I wonder why!” Nico called back. Percy hesitated for a moment, but followed Nico to the top of the stairs.
“He’s cute, you now,” Percy said. “You could do a lot worse.”
Nico pressed his hands flat against his face. “Shut up,” he said. “Please go away.” His voice was muffled by his palms.
But Percy was having too much fun with this. “Mom’s gonna be thrilled.”
Nico took his hands away from his face to glare up at Percy. “You can’t tell her. She’d be so embarrassing.”
Percy hummed in agreement. “I bet she’ll make you a cake. Is Congrats on Finally Getting a Boyfriend too long to pipe out in icing?”
“We’re not even dating,” Nico muttered, but he was blushing. He climbed back up the stairs and tried to wrestle the door closed, but Percy was stronger, and held it open with ease.
“Is Will in any of your classes?” Percy asked. “I can bring the cake to school; you can share it with everyone!”
Nico’s face turned as red as a tomato. “ Percy. ”
“What! It’s an occasion that deserves a celebration.”
“I never did this when you and Annabeth got together,” he whined.
“Missed opportunity,” Percy said with a shrug. “Not my fault you didn’t think of it.”
Nico opened his mouth to speak, but the front door opened before he could. Sally stepped inside the house, tossing her keys on the coffee table. But she stopped when she saw the boys’ standoff. “Is everything alright in here?”
Nico took advantage of the distraction to pull the door shut tight, and Percy heard the lock click into place. “Nico has a boyfriend,” Percy told Sally, grinning.
“No I don’t!” Nico yelled through the door.
But Sally had taken on a conspiratorial smile to match Percy’s. “Really? Nico, that’s so exciting!” She drifted up to Nico’s bedroom door. “I know! I’ll make you a cake to celebrate!”
Percy burst out laughing. “I knew you’d say that!”
“You’re both terrible,” Nico’s voice echoed from the other side of the door.
But it sounded like he was smiling.