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A/N: Hey guys! First off thank you for choosing to read this fic (it means more than you know) This is the first Fic I’ve ever written. I'm a bit nervous, but I really hope you enjoy it! If you notice anything that feels off or would like to give me some writing pointers, please do! Don’t be shy with your critiques anyways here is Chapter 1.
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So overall today could have gone better. Percy thought as he stared up at the ceiling, Annabeth, his girlfriend and person who he thought he'd spend the rest of his life with dumped him and said that she just did not feel any kind of attraction to him which was a bit harsh.
But Percy knew the end was near for them anyway ever since the end of the war it seemed their relationship was going downhill, quite depressing when you realise the only thing keeping them together was the looming spectre of death, but what can you do? Sometimes for no fault of your own or someone else it just doesn't work out, he saw the way she looked at Piper and how her cheeks turned a faint shade of pink each time they were near or the way she almost over-laughed at her jokes. Normally he wasn't this perceptive with people but Annabeth was an exception. Besides now that Piper and Jason were broken up Annabeth had her shot and Percy was gonna root for her. They were still really close after all.
It's not like Percy hadn't had wandering eyes as of late. He closed his eyes to centre his thoughts.
Nico di Angelo.
Words failed to describe him, on the outside he seemed like a standard-issue Emo kid like the ones found in all those cheesy teen movies but Nico was a lot more than that. Kind, considerate and very handsome, his eyes seemed to see straight through you into your soul (maybe they did some kind of Hades kid power).
Nico was also one of the strongest people he had ever met, which is saying something considering the kind of people he hangs about with, Nico was able to transport the Athena Parthenos, Reyna and Coach Hedge halfway across the world in, What? 3, 4 days? Preventing a war between the two camps (That camp half-blood definitely wouldn't have survived) and helping to return Gaia from whence she came. (It still floors him how he was able to do all that.)
But Nico has also been through things that Percy could scarcely imagine and still made it out the other end. Losing his mother, sister and being trapped in that Gods forsaken jar for weeks on end, Percy would have been broken if that happened to him. Nico was just so amazing, no wonder Percy found himself falling for him. Though Percy had always liked and admired him as a friend now it seemed those feelings were becoming romantic.
Percy smiled and chuckled to himself just yesterday he would have been way too afraid to admit that he was head over heels for Nico di Angelo, but now it felt like his thoughts had never been clearer Percy wondered vaguely if Nico would ever want to date him. I mean 'What am I compared to Nico?' Percy wondered which was a silly question. Percy had saved the Olympians' Asses so many times they should as well designate him as "Professional Donkey Saver".
Percy finally decided that was officially enough thinking for tonight and allowed Hypnos' embrace to wash over him.
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Jason's job sucked. Like seriously sucked or at least the artificial deadlines sucked. Jason was actually his own boss so technically he didn't need to have deadlines but he decided that if he was going to get any work finished and completed then he had to have deadlines. Nothing like a warm cup of self-imposed stress to keep you up till 2 am every night.
You know maybe that was why he and Piper broke up focusing solely on work, absolutely did not help in the relationship department.
Seriously though, he should get rid of them. They seemed to do nothing to help his team's productivity and seemed only to fatigue them more and more, but Jason needs to get this one done. Fast.
It's already been pushed back twice and both times he received a very strongly worded letter from the goddess in question.
Jason's team had already gone through almost everything to do for it, checking his massive checkboard it looked like almost everything was done. Jason had hired some of the best demigods in camp to help with this project.
Annabeth and Malcolm are the team's architects which was decided by a fierce battle between the Athena kids to decide the best architect (besides Annabeth),
Leo the head engineer and the Hephestus cabin were hired to build the temples and to ensure that Annabeth and Malcolm stay in check when designing the buildings, Jason remembers the first blueprint Annabeth had deemed worthy of construction and the entire cabin chewed her out on how utterly torturous that would be to build, since then though their architects have kept their designs in check (not wanting to risk an angry Hephestus cabin).
But Jason was happy to say that he by far got the best job along with Rachel and Calypso. Art. You see, after the war Jason got bored. He was only just beginning the temple scheme and to say it was a slow start would be generous. They were moving as slow as treacle, it takes a lot of effort to convince Mr D to let you do anything.
So in the downtime, Rachel began to give him Art lessons. It was Jason's absolute favourite time of the day.
Every day for about an hour, Jason would get a full hands-on lesson about the absolute complexity of the art.
Rachel didn't mess about either and Jason was a fast learner picking up shading, colour theory, contrast, paint mixing. According to Rachel, he was "The best student I've ever had" which caused Jason to wonder who else she gave lessons to but that's a mystery for another day. Eventually, Jason had graduated from Acrylics to Oil and was able to paint the statues and wall patterns for the temples.
Which brought him back to his problem; Aphrodite.
According to Annabeth, Aphrodite looks different to everyone since everyone has a different idea of what true, pure, unfiltered beauty looks like. How do you even begin to picture that? Seriously! Jason stared back at the half-painted statue in front of him.
He had already spent the last 6 hours painting the statue and now he was stuck on the last and perhaps most important part of the eyes. How was he supposed to depict beauty like that when, when Jason tried to picture it, there was really only one person that came to mind.
Nico Di Angelo.
Nico was absolutely dazzling in Jason's eyes, with midnight ebony hair, perfect olive skin and the most truly piercing of black eyes. So kind as well Nico had helped on numerous occasions with the construction of the temples, he had saved their asses a few times already.
When they were building Hades and Persephone's temple the entire roof decided to cave in but Nico was thankfully there to save the day summoning a skeleton army to rebuild the rubble before they were thrown off schedule.
Not to mention how brave Nico had been in Croatia when they had to confront Eros. Nico was an incredibly kind and lovely person; he just has some issues opening up to people.
Jason was in love, simple as that, and he wasn't afraid to say it (well maybe not to most people) breaking out his thoughts to return to the statue looking at the vacant eyes Jason knew what to do and began to paint them in with the utmost care.
"True beauty," Jason said, head still in the clouds. A perfect description of the Italian Demigod.
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Nico was unexcited (is that a word?) for the opening of the new temple, it looked like he wasn’t alone though nearly the whole camp had come to the opening not everyone was exactly ecstatic, some people glared at the statues like they wanted to punch Aphrodite in the face.
Of course, he appreciated all the work Jason and his team put into it, Jason was one hell of an artist, by the way, seriously impeccable, the mosaics, statues and the coloured trims were incredible, Nico didn't even know greek temples were coloured in until recently but they were seriously a sight to behold, but, seriously? Aphrodite? Give me a break Nico thought.
“Nico!” Jason shouted “I’m so happy you came! How do you like the new temple?”
“It's great. Did you really have to build a temple to Aphrodite though?” Nico asked, Aphrodite and her offspring had caused enough trouble in their lives.
“Look I know you don’t exactly… love Aphrodite,” Jason looked to the side “But you know they aren't so bad, love isn’t a bad thing either. You don’t have to like Poseidon to appreciate the sea.” Jason said
Nico knew Jason and Piper had broken up, he didn’t know what it was like but he couldn’t help feeling selfishly hopeful he had been crushing on Jason ever since Croatia, he was the first of the seven to show him sort of kindness, besides Hazel obviously.
Jason was rather attractive, practically everyone in both camps turned their head when he walked by, With short blond hair, broad shoulders and a handsome face. Jason was as pretty as pie, as they say, could be insanely kind and compassionate.
Jason had accepted him when he was forced to tell him his secret and Jason didn't judge him or say anything he expected him to say. And then there was Percy, Percy who he had had a now not so secret crush on for what? 5 years now? Percy was, well. He was Percy, kind, strong and extremely handsome, Seriously what was Percy not?
Jason had said their breakup had gone well so Nico trusted he wasn’t very broken up about it he had seen them talking like nothing had changed. Nico often forgot they were a couple they never really practised PDA or anything like that. He wondered vaguely if Jason would be like that if they were together, He pushed the thought down, No Nico thought Jason is just your friend nothing less nothing more
“I heard about you and Piper…” He mentioned softly
Jason's eyes softened “Yeah it just doesn’t work out sometimes, it's alright though mutual thing.” He smiled softly
“Well if it's worth anything the temple looks beautiful.”
“Thanks. Ready to go in?” Jason asked, he took Nico by the arm and led him in.
The column gated entrance was flooded with campers in orange shirts, the sound of ancient Greek hymns and instruments filled the air as well as the smell of roses. Nico was floored by the sheer amount of detail in the temple. The Mosaics lining the walls of various myths including Aphrodite, though what caught the son of Hades’ eye was the familiar head of hair sitting at the main altar.
“Oh, hey Will!” Jason greeted, a bright smile on his face.
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This morning was not as fun as it could have been. Will hadn’t slept at all last night the Infirmary had mountains of paperwork that had to be filed and the infirmary was still recovering its medical supplies from the Giant’s War.
As Well as the normal paperwork the infirmary had just received a bunch of new charges because of the Capture the Flag game yesterday so Will decided just to stay in the Infirmary overnight to tend to the wounded.
So Will had a nice night in with a bunch of books and things to write absolute paradise on earth for a dyslexic kid. It gave him time to think staring at the blank paper was inspiring to Will’s brain. Mainly thinking about Nico di Angelo.
Ever since the fading incident, Will had been taking special precautions to help Nico regain his powers after such a physically traumatic experience, so twice every week Will would help Nico regain his powers properly by simple things like short-range shadow travelling and the summoning of some undead, (which was rather disturbing to watch) and other underworld related activities.
Will had nightmares of Nico fading away, it was a lot of pressure and Will was always worried that he would mess up and Nico would get worse. But Will had to get past his insecurities, if it would help Nico it was worth it, Nico was worth it.
It felt weird for Will to go to Aphrodite’s temple. He had no love life to speak of just an extremely inappropriate crush on Nico di Angelo.
Will kept fussing over him though trying to make sure he ate properly since Nico had a history of not doing that leaving him emaciated looking. But anyway the only reason Will even came to the temple unveiling was for some guidance on what to do to get rid of this silly crush.
Besides what is Nico going to want to date Will for? Especially when Percy and Jason were single, what was he in comparison to them, the powerful war heroes who saved the camps vs dumb blonde Greys Anatomy extra.
So for now Will was stuck praying to Aphrodite for guidance (the best he expected was Aphrodite to show up and laugh).
“Oh hey, Will!” A familiar voice sounded.
“Hi, guys! How are you doing?” Will said, his mood automatically perked up; he always felt better when Nico was around, which was strange considering his overall drab mood.
“What are you doing praying to Aphrodite?” Nico asked Jason elbowed him and he shot him a patented ‘Go die in a fire‘ look.
“Nico! You can’t just ask people that!” Jason reprimanded him, Jason always seemed to act like a dad when people said something rude.
“Yeah, Nico! You trying to say something about my love life?” Will questioned
“No just.” Nico retorted and looked over at the statue “I don’t know how much Aphrodite is going to help you out.”
‘You and me both’ Will thought. He locked eyes with Nico as he begrudgingly went to pray down by the Altar, hands clasped at his nose with his head pointing down.
“Jason, I was meaning to ask you why that statue has his eyes.”
Jason blushed softly, his cheeks turning a light shade of Pink “I have no idea what you are talking about.” Jason said quickly “The statue just had to be beautiful so you know I just went with the thing that would have the most em-mass appeal.” Jason looked and acted very nervous, a very unlike Jason thing to do. The mighty Hero of Olympus, ex-praetor of New Rome brought to a stuttering mess at the mere mention of his (rather obvious) crush on one Nico Di Angelo.
Will chuckled softly “Don’t worry I won’t tell him.” Will said softly. Jason looked back at him with a silent gasp and a priceless expression, Will wished he had a camera to remember that face for all time.
“Tell who what?” A voice asked from behind them.
“Morning Percy,” Will said.
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Percy had never really talked to Will. Since he was head counsellor of the Apollo Cabin he saw him at the meetings at the big house, and the infirmary but besides that, he wasn’t a big factor in Percy’s life, not until he started hanging out with Nico did he notice his existence.
Percy felt bad for thinking that but it was the truth.
Will always seemed a bit touchy-feely with Nico, which came with the territory of being a healer but Percy couldn’t help feeling jealous especially when he so desperately wanted Nico.
“Afraid I can’t quite tell you what” Will replied “We were just arguing about the best demigod Jason admitted something that I could never tell you.”
“Well obviously, I would be the best demigod, especially in the handsomeness department,” Percy smirked and Will fake gasped
“How dare you even entertain such a thought with me around?!” Will joked.
The son of Hades got up and walked over to their waging war.
And.
Wow .
Even more than normal Nico looked… Gorgeous, unparalleled in looks, his dishevelled hair looked like he just rolled out of bed but in the cute sense. Shame he was hiding his face in his palm, Percy didn't know why this was a perfectly reasonable debate.
Will draped his arm around Nico's shoulders in some sort of weird greeting. Nico glared at him and tried pushing him off but did not succeed.
See this was what he was talking about! What the heck was wrong with him Nico obviously wasn’t comfortable with him doing this and yet he still did it. UGH! Seriously Percy was like a different person with Nico, this should not be as big a problem as it was but Percy couldn’t help feeling that way.
“I’m just about done with this gods forsaken temple,” Nico decided, freeing himself from Will’s arm. Jason looked over with an upset look on his face, Nico just stuck out his tongue in turn exiting the building.
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After a long day’s work doing camp activities, Archery was a lot more difficult than people gave it credit for. At night came Nico’s favourite time of day, the Campfire. The Apollo kids got together with all their instruments, and their heavenly vocals. It was always a fun time.
It was the only time Nico felt like a normal camper at a normal summer camp rather than whatever Camp Half-Blood could be classified as.
“This seat taken?” Nico heard Jason ask.
“Hm? Oh no, go ahead, Jason.” Jason smiled and sat down next to Nico absentmindedly constructing a s'more to cook.
“You know I’m still a bit upset about those awful comments you made about my beautiful temple.” Jason mocked “Especially after all that hard work I put into making it..” Jason leaned on the table, looking at Nico. “One might think that you don't appreciate our amazing effort.”
“Not true! You did a great job, just did you have to make one for Aphrodite. After everything, she’s put me through. I just never want to deal with her. Love is too complicated, honestly, your sister had the right idea.”
“A pity someone, who looks like you, not even interested in romance.”
Jason laughed and Nico’s poor heart began beating faster.
Percy came over Nico was thankful the darkness of the night hid his blush. The songs continued echoing around the pavilion, It was nice.
Percy and Jason telling jokes.
Campers singing short verses about their parents
The heavenly smell of the smoke from the fire that was fed by offerings.
For the first time in years, Nico felt normal. No more wars, no more godly drama, he had his friends, he had his sister and Reyna and for once he felt at peace.
Maybe the next few months wouldn’t be so bad.