Work Text:
Nico’s junior year of high school starts the way it normally does. He is throwing his things into his new locker, holding his books, when the usual group of obnoxious douche bags – led by the ever charming Bryce Lawrence – casually stroll past and slap them to the ground.
“Really?” He calls after them. “That’s just mildly inconvenient!”
They flip him off at the same time, so in sync that Nico can’t help but think they must have rehearsed it. Like the goddamn Jets.
“And they say high school’s the best time of your life,” he mutters as he kneels to get his books.
“Can I tell you a secret?”
When he looks up, Percy Jackson is kneeling across from him, holding out one of his binders. He is smiling widely at him, undeterred by Nico’s glare.
“The only people who say that are popular, pretty, and dumb.”
Nico grabs the binder out of Percy’s hand and stands up. “One to talk, Jackson.”
He hates Percy Jackson on principle. As far as people go, Percy Jackson is better than most. He knows this because everyone loves Percy Jackson. Literally everyone. Captain of the swim team, best friend of both super popular quarterback Jason Grace and Grover Underwood, nerdy, unpopular president of the Olympus Green Team, Percy Jackson is basically an overall good dude. Plus Nico is pretty sure he’s dating Annabeth Chase, who is pretty, smart, and also pretty terrifying. So he doesn’t technically have a real reason to hate Percy Jackson, other than the fact that he is exactly the type of person Nico should hate.
All he does, though, is cock his head slightly to the side and grins. “Are you calling me pretty?”
Nico rolls his eyes. “Move along, Jackson. Surely you have somewhere to be.”
“Yes, I do. And I’m there.”
And then, to Nico’s utter horror, he opens the locker next to him, pulls out a notebook, and then smiles at Nico.
“See you around,” he says. Nico watches him go, feeling sick.
“Apparently.”
Having a locker next to Percy Jackson is probably not the worst thing that could have happened, but it’s definitely not fun. There are people around almost constantly. Nico becomes acquainted with Jason Grace and his kleptomaniac girlfriend Piper McLean. Annabeth Chase is around a lot, as well, and a girl named Reyna. Reyna is the only one Nico doesn’t mind. The rest of them all seem very nice, but that’s the problem. Jason Grace especially is a bitch to be around, mostly because he spends a lot of the time trying to befriend Nico. Nico had always thought the popular kids were supposed to ignore kids like Nico. Apparently Percy and his crew missed that memo.
The day that Percy finds out Nico is related to Hazel is probably the day it falls to shit.
Hazel is at his locker, telling him she’ll be home late and to tell their father. Percy comes over to his locker just as Hazel is leaving. She kisses him on the cheek, before smiling at Percy and walking away. Percy is looking at him strangely.
“Frank Zhang is a good friend of mine.”
“Congratulations.”
“I’m just saying, because you looked kind of cozy with Hazel Levesque.”
Nico snorts. He realizes Percy is giving him some kind of shovel talk. About his sister and her boyfriend. Jesus. “Hazel is my sister, Jackson.”
Percy’s face relaxes. Then realization crosses his features. “Wait, wait. That means you’re Nico? Nico di Angelo?”
Nico nods, stuffing his chemistry book in his locker.
“Huh.”
He raises an eyebrow at Percy. “Surprised?”
“No, it’s just… Frank said you were scary. You don’t seem that scary.”
“Frank’s dating my sister. It’s my job to be scary.”
Percy smiles, showing all his teeth. “Frank’s a good guy.”
Nico shuts his locker. “I know. That’s why he’s dating my sister.”
“Fair enough.” Percy is still grinning. No one should smile this much. It’s unnerving.
“Well. I’ll see you around, Nico.”
“Apparently.”
“Are you going to Piper McLean’s party?”
Percy is leaning against his locker, as if he had been waiting for him. Nico makes a face.
“No.”
Percy looks vaguely disappointed. “Why not?”
“For one, I wasn’t invited.”
“I’m inviting you.”
“For another,” Nico says, ignoring that. “I don’t want to.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t like parties. I also don’t know Piper McLean.”
“She’s very nice.”
“I’m sure she is,” Nico says, not quite able to believe he is having this conversation. “That doesn’t mean I want to go to her party.”
“Hazel is going.”
He glares at Percy. “Drop it, Jackson. I’m not going to the party.”
Percy frowns. “Suit yourself. But you’re still welcome to.”
Nico shakes his head, shuts his locker, and walks away.
From: Hazel
(1:38) Can you come get me? I’m tired and slightly intoxicated.
When Nico pulls up in front of Piper McLean’s house, his first instinct is holy shit. No one’s house should be that big, and his house is nothing to sneeze at. People always said Piper’s dad was Tristan McLean, but he had always figured they were just joking – what movie star would send his daughter to public school? But apparently the rumour mill was true, for once.
He texts Hazel, and then he calls Hazel, and then he curses Hazel as he parks and walks up to the door.
The music is so loud that he doesn’t bother to knock. He walks in and looks around for someone he recognizes, and spots Reyna in the corner, talking to Annabeth Chase.
“Reyna,” he says.
“Percy will be so pleased.”
“I’m just here to pick up my sister. Have you seen her?”
“Bathroom upstairs. Frank wasn’t feeling well.”
Nico pushes his way through the crowd. He walks in on a couple having sex (“Have you heard of knocking?” “Have you heard of locking the fucking door?”) before he finds the bathroom. In there he finds Frank, leaning over the toilet; Hazel is rubbing his back, and Percy is sitting on the rim of the bathtub, speaking encouraging words. He is the first one to notice Nico, and he smiles widely at him.
“Hey!”
Nico nods at him. “Hazel?”
She glances up. “Thank God. We have to take him home.”
Nico sighs. “Fine. But if he throws up in Dad’s car you have to explain.”
Percy hoists Frank up and supports him. “Nico, help me get him downstairs. Hazel, go get some plastic bags.”
Nico grabs Frank’s other side and helps Percy drag him downstairs.
“My grandmother is going to kill me,” he mutters.
“Probably.” Nico shoots a glare at Percy for his lack of support.
Hazel rejoins them, a fistful of plastic bags. She fishes Nico’s keys out of his pocket and then helps them load Frank into the car. Hazel sits in the back with him, holding a bag in front of his face. Percy stops him before he can get in the car.
“Hey, thanks man.”
Nico shrugs. “I came to get Hazel. I didn’t even know Frank was sick.”
“Still. I appreciate it.”
Nico just gets in the car.
“I’ll see you on Monday.”
“Percy,” Nico says before he closes the door. “We’re not friends.”
“Maybe. But you just called me Percy for the first time.”
Nico rolls his eyes and closes the door.
“Morning, di Angelo.”
Nico grunts.
“Glad to see you too.”
“It’s eight thirty on Monday morning. I’m not glad to see anyone.”
Percy just laughs. “I’ll see you.”
He makes a vague noise of agreement.
It just keeps happening. Percy just keeps talking to him, and it starts happening places other than their lockers, too. Percy will say hi to him in the hall; one time he spots him coming out of Mr. D’s class and they talk about what an asshole he is. Even worse, his friends have seemed to adopt him, against his will, into their group. Jason Grace, whom he shares a few classes with, has taken to sitting next to him, and because of this he gets to know Piper McLean much better, who is, just as Percy had said, very nice. He meets Leo Valdez, who is obnoxious in a funny way, although he seems to be afraid of Nico. He still works to keep them all at arm’s distance from him, with the exception of Reyna, and after a while Jason works his way into the small circle of people Nico trusts.
He isn’t sure how it happened. He isn’t sure if he minds.
He is leaving school late one afternoon, after staying behind with Mr. Brunner to help tutor some kids in ancient history, when he is approached by Bryce Lawrence and his cronies. Nico isn’t afraid of them, although he really should be. He just rolls his eyes when they block his path.
“Sorry, I don’t have any lunch money for you today.”
“Do you think you’re funny, di Angelo?”
“I have my moments. What do you want?”
He grins. He is missing a tooth. Nico’s life is a walking cliché.
“I heard a rumour that you like to suck dick. Wanted to find out if it was true.”
“Why? Would you like your dick sucked?”
Bryce steps forward, angry. “You watch your mouth, fag.”
How original. “You’re the one who started talking about dicks, not me.”
“Admit it.”
“Admit what?”
“Admit that you’re a fag.”
“Why? Do you want to start a GSA?”
One more step and Nico is getting ready to bolt, when he hears a voice.
“Is there a problem?”
Nico rolls his eyes. Walking cliché, indeed.
“Stay out of it, Jackson. This is none of your business.”
“Unless you want to join the GSA with us.”
That’s when he gets punched.
He isn’t sure what Percy does, but when he comes to they are alone, and his head is resting in Percy’s lap. When he realizes this he sits up quickly, only to become so dizzy he is forced to lie back down again.
“Chill out, Nico. Take it easy.”
“What happened?”
“I heroically and fearlessly beat them all to a pulp.”
“What actually happened?”
He hears soft laughter from above him. “When they saw you were knocked out they bolted. Guess they were afraid if you died they’d really be in trouble.”
“Why were you even here this late?”
“Swim practice.”
“Okay. Last question.”
“Shoot.”
“Why am I in your lap?”
“Oh.” Percy laughs nervously. “I needed a soft place to rest your head.”
Nico sits up, much more slowly this time. He puts a hand to his head. “How fucking hard did he punch me?”
“Wasn’t the punch that knocked you out, it was the pavement.”
Nico glares. “You distracted me.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“I had it under control.”
“If that’s you under control I’d hate to see you when you’re overwhelmed. Do you have to deal with that a lot?”
Nico shrugs. “That’s high school for you.”
“No it’s not.”
“Maybe not for you, Percy, but that’s high school for me.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“You just did.”
Percy rolls his eyes. “Why are you so resistant to being my friend?”
Nico thinks about this for a second before answering. “I’m not a community care project.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I’m not interested in being used so you can get good karma. Find another unpopular gay kid.”
“I thought those were just rumours?”
Nico searches his face, but there is nothing other than genuine concern. How annoying.
“They’re not. Does that bother you?”
Percy shrugs. “Two years ago I made out with Jason on a dare and liked it far more than a totally straight guy should. Besides, Annabeth and Reyna are dating.”
This is surprising. “I thought you were dating Annabeth?”
Percy shakes his head. “We haven’t dated since sophomore year. That same night she made out with Reyna and, well. We refer to it as the Night of Sexual Awakening. So no. I don’t care that you’re gay. I’m not doing this to get good karma.”
“Then why are you doing it?”
To his surprise Percy blushes.
“You seemed… cool. I wanted to get to know you. Plus Hazel talks about you a lot. I felt like I kind of already knew you. Obviously the feeling wasn’t mutual, and I’m sorry. But my intentions are pure.”
Nico chews his lip. This is not how high school was supposed to go. There were supposed to be lines. Cliques. Ladders. That kind of thing.
But on the other hand, Nico wouldn’t mind having friends, or some sort of support group. The only people he had now were Hazel and this pothead named Clovis who always slept under the bleachers, and he wasn’t the most coherent of people.
Maybe, he thinks, being friends with Percy Jackson and everyone wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. After all, Hazel liked them. And he trusted Hazel.
“You really want to be my friend?”
Percy nods.
“Fine.”
Percy’s smile is so wide and bright and beautiful it makes Nico’s heart skip a beat.
That’s the beginning of the end.
Once he lets his guard down, it is easy, far too easy, to fall in love with Percy Jackson. Percy, who is all easy smiles and bad jokes. Percy, whose smiles light Nico on fire. Percy, who sits next to him at lunch, warm thigh pressed against Nico’s, his laughter loud in Nico’s ear.
Nico is doomed.
“Are you coming to my swim meet this Saturday?”
Oh yes, that’s what he needs. Percy Jackson in that tiny little bathing suit.
“Uh. Maybe.”
“You have to come. Percy looks hysterical in a speedo.”
“I do not!”
“You look cute, babe,” Jason says with a smirk. Percy sticks his tongue out at Annabeth.
“Tag along, Nico. It’s fun. There’s this really annoying dude who always whines whenever Percy beats him. Not to mention the men in speedos.”
Jason looks at Reyna. “You’re a lesbian.”
“He’s not,” she says, nodding at Nico, who blushes and firmly avoids Percy’s eye.
“I’ll pick you and Hazel up,” Jason says. “It’ll be fun.”
“Fun. Sure. Okay. I guess.”
Percy’s smile is worth it.
“I’m so happy you’re getting out.”
“Yes, Hazel. You’ve mentioned.”
Hazel won’t stop smiling. Nico glares. “If you don’t step off I’m never going out again.”
Hazel kisses him on the cheek just as there’s a knock at the door. When Hazel opens it, Jason lets out a whistle.
“Holy shit. Your house is huge.”
“Big and empty and cold. Just like my father.”
Hazel rolls her eyes.
The swim meet is at the rival school, Jupiter High. “I was supposed to go here,” Jason says as he parks. “My father went here.”
“What happened?”
“Didn’t want to. Wanted to forge my own path and shit. My step-mother stood up for me, actually, which was weird.”
Jason leads them through the school easily.
“Do you come to Percy’s meets a lot?”
“Yeah. You need to come to one of Annabeth’s debates. That’s goddamn terrifying.”
Hazel nods in agreement. “She made someone cry once.”
“It was one of the judges.”
When they get to the pool Jason catches sight of the rest of their friends. He squeezes in next to Piper and Leo; Hazel sits next to Frank, and Nico sits between her and Reyna, who nudges him and points out a skinny blond kid who looks like he is probably perpetually angry. “That’s Octavian. Watch him when Percy wins.”
“You all talk as if he’s guaranteed to win.”
“He pretty much is,” Annabeth says.
“Yeah, no one’s better than Percy. He’s pretty much a legend.”
“Half fish, really.”
And he really is, Nico finds out quickly. He also finds out that yeah, Percy looks very, very good in that little bathing suit.
Nico isn’t really sure what’s supposed to happen at a swim meet. Apparently it’s just how fast you can go from one side to the other. Nico doesn’t really understand sports. All of them seem to be composed of people just running back and forth with some kind of round object. Sometimes swimming back and forth, or skating. No one ever goes anywhere.
Sure enough Percy does come first, climbing out of the pool and shaking himself off like a dog. Octavian comes a distant second and slaps at the water in anger. He is so red Nico is concerned he might have burst a blood vessel.
As the swimmers go to change Annabeth spots a woman introduced to him as Sally Jackson. Percy’s mom gives him a hug, which normally freaks him out, but he’s learned that his rules of human interaction don’t apply to mothers.
Percy comes up to them later, still slightly wet, a towel around his neck. He hugs his mother and then stands next to Nico.
“Paul couldn’t make it, Percy, but he sends his love.”
“No problem, mom. So,” he says, turning to Nico, “What’d you think?”
Nico raises an eyebrow. “You’re dripping on me.”
Percy grins.
“So who’s coming over for dessert?” Sally asks. Everyone agrees, including Jason, which means Nico is going, too, since that’s his ride.
The Jackson apartment is big enough for three people easily, but ten is a little cramped. Sally serves them blue ice cream and blue pieces of apple pie. Nico isn’t sure how that works.
“Why is everything blue?” He asks Percy.
“Oh. When I was younger I asked my mom why there was no blue food, and, uh, after that she just started making everything blue.”
Nico pokes at his ice cream apprehensively. “Is it, like… blueberry, or something?”
“Vanilla,” Sally says with a warm smile. “It’s just food dye.”
Reassured, Nico digs in.
Sally Jackson, he realizes, just might be the nicest person he’s ever met. Nico kind of wants to spill all his problems to her, which is ridiculous, since he doesn’t tell anyone his problems. What would he even say? I never see my father, I haven’t gotten over the death of my sister, oh also I think I’m in love with your son.
At the end of the night she gives him another hug. “I want to see more of you,” she says. Then she gives him the usual mom comment – “You’re far too thin, you know.” He gets that from Demeter at least two times a week.
Hazel laughs. “You’re fighting a losing battle,” she says. “I’ve been trying to get him to eat more for years.” Nico blushes.
“Thanks for coming,” Percy says as he’s leaving. Nico shrugs.
“Jason says everyone always comes.”
“Yeah, but still. I appreciate it.” There’s that smile again. Nico finds he can’t quite look directly at it. Like the fucking sun.
“No problem,” he manages to say.
As he turns around to say goodbye once more to Percy’s mom, he finds her smiling at him knowingly. He hurries out.
Fucking mothers.
Things only get worse from there.
Nico gets closer to the group as a whole, but he especially gets close to Jason and Reyna. He finds out that Reyna had a thing for Jason before she figured everything out. Jason has a sister, Thalia, who travels all over with her girlfriends (plural). Jason’s step mother is crazy; Reyna’s father is dead. She lives with her older sister.
He learns things about everyone else, too, of course. Piper doesn’t know her mother, and her father never talks about her. She used to steal to try and get his attention, but it had never really worked, and she hasn’t done it in years. Leo’s mother died in an accident and he had bounced around in foster care until he had found his father, who still isn’t really around but at least Leo has a set home, now. Frank’s mom died in Afghanistan and now he lived with his grandmother who, Percy agreed, was awesome, yet terrifying. Annabeth’s parents were divorced; she lived with her father and step-mother, although her mother visited often. She had not been a fan of Percy, although she approved of Reyna.
And Percy – he finds out a lot about Percy. Like how for a long time he had thought his father was dead, until one day he resurfaced. He lived out at sea, mostly. His mother had been in an awful abusive relationship for a long time before she met Paul, who Percy liked very much. He has a half-brother named Tyson who he adores, and he loves the water more than anything, a trait inherited from his father.
He learns so much about his new friends that he can’t help but feel guilty that he doesn’t tell them anything about himself. They know the basics from Hazel: their father was a workaholic and their step-mother was nice enough, albeit rather disinterested. Hazel had told them about her mother and how she had died, leaving Hazel in the custody of a father she never knew. The only thing Nico tells them is that his father met his mother in Italy and she had moved to America with him, only to die a few years after having Nico.
He doesn’t mention Bianca.
He had asked Hazel if she had told them, but she had just shaken her head, looking at him sadly. “She’s not my story,” she had said. “You should tell them, though. They might be able to help.”
But Nico didn’t tell them. He still wasn’t sure why they kept talking to him, and he didn’t fully trust them yet. Hazel told him he was being silly, but Nico had never really had friends like this, and the fact that he had gotten seven because of something so arbitrary as locker placement concerned him. This wasn’t supposed to happen – he was waiting for the day they realized that.
“Hey.”
“Hi,” Nico replies, trying to grab his biology textbook out from beneath the pile of other texts without toppling the whole pile over. Percy leans over and helps, lifting up the pile while Nico drags out the required book. He wonders if Percy actually smells like the sea or if that’s just his imagination.
“Thank you,” he mutters. Percy claps him on the back before opening his own locker.
“No problem. So, Stoll brothers are having a party this weekend. You coming?”
“I don’t like parties. We’ve been over this.”
“No one likes parties, Nico.”
“Then why are you going?”
“Dunno. That’s what you’re supposed to do in high school.”
“That’s stupid.”
“Yeah, well. High school’s stupid. I still think you should come. It’ll be fun.”
Nico gives him a disbelieving look, and Percy laughs. “Okay. Maybe not fun. Tell you what, just come for an hour. If, by the end of the hour, you’re really not enjoying yourself, we’ll leave.”
He raises an eyebrow. “We’ll leave?”
Percy turns his attention to his locker. “Yeah. You and me will go get pizza, or something.”
“Why?”
Percy shrugs, still rummaging about in his locker. “It’s my idea for you to go.”
“You don’t need to leave the party just because I’m not enjoying myself.”
“I know I don’t have to.” Nico waits for him to say something else but he doesn’t, so Nico just sighs.
“Fine. An hour.”
Percy looks thrilled. “Great! My mom will pick you up at nine.”
“Your mom drives you to parties?”
Percy blushes. “Shut up,” he says, and Nico laughs.
Percy comes to the door holding a Tupperware container.
“My mother baked cookies,” he says apologetically, shoving the container into Nico’s hands. He brings them into the kitchen, popping one into his mouth.
“Holy fuck,” he mutters. “Your mother should sell these.”
“Tell me about it. Hazel coming?”
“No. Her and Frank are having a date night.”
“Cute.”
Nico climbs into the back of the Prius and says hi to Percy’s mom. “Thank you for the cookies,” he tells her. “They’re amazing.”
“I expect you to eat most of those,” she teases.
When they get to the Stoll house Percy leans over to kiss his mother on the cheek.
“Now, Percy –”
“Mom.”
“Don’t mom me. You too, Nico. If you must drink – and I urge you not to – drink lots of water. Don’t drink too much. Do not even think about doing drugs. And if you’re in trouble, don’t be afraid to call me. Understand?”
“Yes, mom.”
Sally turns around to give Nico a pointed look. “Uh. Yes. Ma’am.”
Percy locates everyone quickly when they get in. Reyna pushes a beer into his hands, whispering to loosen up. Nico takes a sip and tries not to make a face. He’s had wine at fancy dinner parties with his father, but the beer tastes much worse. He takes a seat on the couch next to Annabeth, who is nursing a Sprite.
“Not drinking?”
She shakes her car keys. “I got driving duty this week.” Reyna collapses in her lap and places a loud, sloppy kiss on her temple. Annabeth makes a face.
“Nico!” He hears a voice call out, and he looks up to see Clovis stumbling over to him. “How you doin’, man?”
“Fine.” Clovis wobbles on his feet – Nico wonders if there is ever a time when he is not high.
“I didn’t know you went to parties.”
“I don’t. I’m here against my will.” He nods at Percy, who is watching the two of them closely. Clovis grins, which is weirdly disconcerting.
“Good to see you out, bro. And hey, I got some reaaaaallly potent shit if you’re interested.”
Nico grimaces. “Uh. Thanks, Clovis.”
Clovis waves, pats Leo’s curly hair, giggles, and then walks away. Leo runs his hands through his hair, looking confused.
“Who was that?”
“Clovis. Pot head.”
“Friend of yours?”
Nico shrugs. “Sort of, I guess. We used to hide out under the bleachers and make fun of the football team. Er,” he glances at Jason. “Sorry.” Jason just shrugs.
Nico takes another sip of his beer before deciding that it wasn’t worth it. He hands it to Reyna, who drinks it happily.
He checks his phone. 9:48.
At 10:51, he nudges Percy. “Hour’s up, and I am definitely not having fun.”
Percy finishes his beer. “That makes two of us. Let’s go. Me and Nico are heading out.”
“You just got here!” Jason says. Percy shrugs, and then Jason shrugs, before turning back to Leo.
“C’mon,” Percy says, pulling Nico through the crowd. “There’s a 24 hour pizza place around here. It’s not good, but it’s open.”
They are quiet on their way to the pizza place. Percy orders three slices; Nico orders one and picks at it.
“Can I ask you a personal question?”
All of Nico’s instincts are yelling run, but he quells it down. “Okay.”
“Why don’t you eat?”
Nico looks down at his pizza. He’s picked the pepperoni off and now he’s tearing pieces off the crust. He shrugs.
“Just… I don’t know. Habit. There was a time – well, I went through a period where I just didn’t really eat. At all. I grew out of it but I still don’t really… have an appetite.”
Percy stares. “You stopped eating… like an eating disorder?”
Nico sighs. “I guess technically, but I’m not sure. I – it wasn’t that I was consciously not eating. I was just never hungry, and I guess I just forgot to eat.” This is the time, he knows. This is the ultimate trust exercise. “When I was 12, my sister died. My other sister. Her name was Bianca. She got hit by a car. My father wasn’t even here. After her death… I don’t know. I was just never hungry. I just forgot to eat. Everyone keeps trying to tell me that I wanted to die and I wanted to punish my father but honestly I just… everything turned grey and dull and flat and I wasn’t hungry and I didn’t eat. It was my step-mother who ended up noticing. She came into my room one day when I was changing because she didn’t know I was home and nearly had a heart attack.”
All of Percy’s attention is focused on him. “What happened? I mean… you seem better. Did you go see someone?”
“Yeah, but that wasn’t it. It was Hazel. She came to live with us when I was 14. She brought me out of that cloud. She loved me in a way only Bianca had. My mother had died before I was really old enough to remember. Then when Bianca died I had no one. Then I had Hazel. Hazel doesn’t let me get like that anymore. If she were here she wouldn’t let us leave until I ate at least half of this.” He is smiling as he talks about Hazel – a real smile. The kind of smile he has only for her.
“Guess I’ll take on her role for tonight, then,” Percy says. Nico looks at him. He isn’t smiling – he is deadly serious.
Nico takes a bite. Then he makes a face. “You were right. This is awful.”
Percy laughs. “I never promised gourmet pizza.”
“You force me to a shitty party and I don’t even get good food my troubles.”
“Next time I’ll take you for steak.”
Nico smiles.
The rest of the night passes. At around midnight they get a call from Annabeth, asking where they are, and a few minutes later they all join them, piling into the shop. Leo orders a whole pizza for everybody; Jason sits beside him and keeps drunkenly professing his love for everybody at the table, and Reyna is on his other side, asleep on his shoulder. Percy is across from him, eyes sparkling. He looks pointedly at Nico’s pizza. Nico takes a bite and flips him off.
At 12:45 Percy gets out his phone. “My curfew’s at 1:00. I should call my mom.”
“I thought your curfew was at two?”
“My curfew is one when it involves the Stoll brothers,” he says, making a face. “Ever since that time when we got super drunk and Leo set my shirt on fire.”
“That was an accident!”
Percy rolls his eyes and calls his mother to let her know they were at the pizza place. A few minutes later she is there, and Nico climbs into the back of the car, exhausted. He doesn’t think he’s ever socialized so much.
He thanks Sally, says goodbye to Percy, and the tiredly enters the house. As he’s heading upstairs Hazel pokes her head out of her room.
“Hey. How was your night?”
“Good,” he says, and he’s not lying.
“Football game tonight.”
Nico makes a face. “You’re all far too supportive of each other. You’re like a hive mind. It’s exhausting.”
“I take it that’s a no to the football game?”
“That’s a no to the football game.”
Percy looks disappointed, but he doesn’t push. Percy has this eerie ability where he seems to be able to tell exactly when Nico needs to be pushed and when he needs to be left alone. Last week, when Nico hadn’t wanted to go to Annabeth’s debate, Percy had pushed, and Nico had agreed, and he had fun. Tonight, though, is a night where Nico needs to be alone. So Percy just nods, shuts his locker and then waves goodbye. Nico watches him go, feeling oddly guilty.
He goes to sleep early that night. Hazel goes to the football game with their friends and texts him updates; Percy texts him what might loosely be defined as updates, such as ‘Jason just got hit in the face hahaha’ and then fifteen seconds later ‘shit he’s not getting up’ and then ‘nvm he’s fine.’ Nico rolls his eyes and tries not to smile.
He is doomed. So fucking doomed.
He heads downstairs to grab a bottle of water to bring up to bed with him when he runs into Persephone.
“Oh, sorry.”
“I thought you were at the game?” She says suspiciously. Nico shrugs.
“Didn’t feel like it. I was going to bed early.”
Persephone narrows her eyes. “Are you up to something?”
“Other than the meth lab in my bedroom, nothing.”
His step-mother rolls her eyes. “Your father will be home tomorrow.”
“Oh, good. There’s a parade, I suppose?”
“One of these days you’re going to choke to death on all that sarcasm,” she says, but she’s smiling. Nico just retreats to his bedroom, crawling into bed, and he sleeps well.
If he had to rank this year, it would probably be number one, and he kind of hates Percy Jackson for it. Friends are exhausting, but they’re worth it. Nico would rather shove nails under his fingernails than admit it, especially to Hazel. She keeps giving him these smug little looks every time he’s around Percy, which he fears is maybe a little too obvious.
“You like him, don’t you?”
“If I didn’t do you think I would be friends with him?”
“Don’t be obtuse, Nico, you know what I mean. He’s bi you know.”
“Hazel, trust me when I say that the reason Percy is out of my league has nothing to do with sexuality and everything to do with the fact that he is Percy Jackson.”
“He likes you.”
“He also likes apple pie, that doesn’t mean he wants to date it.”
“Sure, but you’re not apple pie.”
“Hazel.” He gives her a warning look. “Stop.”
She purses her lips. “You do like him though,” she says to get the last word. Nico makes an annoyed noise but he doesn’t deny it, because Hazel knows him too well. Of course he likes him. Nico had found out very quickly that it was impossible not to.
But if there were ever an example of out of your league, it would be Percy Jackson. The universe had clearly made an error when it caused them to become friends; he would be foolishly idealistic to believe it would fuck up enough to allow them to date.
“Do you want to go see a movie?”
Percy ambushes him as he is coming out of ancient history. Nico stares at him. “What?”
“Do you want to go see a movie?”
“What movie?”
“I don’t know,” Percy says sheepishly. “I hadn’t really thought about it.”
This is weird. It’s definitely weird. It should be weird. But Percy is smiling at him and – yeah, okay, Nico has it bad.
“Sure.”
So very, very bad.
“He asked you out on a date.”
“It’s not a date, Hazel!”
“You’re going to the movies. By yourself. That is the definition of a date. You’re going on a date.”
“Who is going on a date?”
Nico lets out a groan and glares at his sister. Hazel does not look even remotely repentant.
“Nico.”
“I’m not!”
“With who?”
“No one!”
“Percy Jackson.”
His father’s face clouds. “Percy Jackson? I know his father. You could do better, Nico.”
“Is that supposed to be your, like, I’m a cool dad I support my gay son moment? Because you didn’t do a very good job of it.”
“No, it wasn’t.” His father levels a glare at him, but it slides off. Those stopped working on Nico ages ago. “I do really know his father. Have for years. He is an arrogant man, Nico, and will likely have raised his son the same.”
“He didn’t raise him. He was raised by his mother.” Why am I justifying myself to him?
His father seems momentarily mollified. “Hm. I still recommend you be careful.”
“It doesn’t matter anyway! It’s not a date!”
His father looks at Hazel. “Is it a date?”
“They’re going to the movies by themselves.”
His father nods. “It’s a date.”
“Don’t you have work?” Nico asks sullenly. His father looks at him, looking unimpressed.
“Enjoy your date, Nico.”
“It’s not a date! He’s doing that just to annoy me,” he says to Hazel as his father heads upstairs. Hazel smiles at him.
“You do the exact same to him.” Then she nods at the clock. “Better go get ready.”
“I hate this entire family,” he mutters.
“Don’t be so emo,” she says, kissing him on the cheek.
Persephone lets him borrow the car. “Enjoy your date.” He doesn’t bother to correct her.
He picks Percy up and they head to the theatre. Percy graciously picks up Nico’s slack, chatting happily while Nico drives in silence. Percy gets a bag of popcorn and informs in a tone that warrants no discussions that Nico will be sharing. Nico nods, smiling slightly.
Honestly, if you put a gun to his head he wouldn’t be able to explain a single damn thing about what happened in that movie. He doesn’t remember the plot, or the characters, or the actors. He does, however, remember the way Percy touched his hand every time he shoved a handful of popcorn into Nico’s hands, because Nico is nothing if not hilariously pathetic.
“That was a really bad movie,” Percy says as they are leaving, and a group of teenage girls who are crying turn around to glare at him. Nico will have to take his word for it.
“You seem to have a habit of taking me to really shitty things. Shitty parties, shitty pizza, shitty movies.”
Percy laughs. “I’ll have to do better next time,” he says.
Nico has no idea what the fuck is happening.
Time passes, and things only get worse. Christmas holidays are a welcome break, although New Years is rather intimidating. He is literally surrounded by couples, and as they all count down the time he is very, very acutely aware that the only single people there are him, Percy, and Percy’s friend Grover, although judging by the way he had been drooling over a girl named Juniper, Nico has a funny feeling that he won’t stay that way. He strategically stays across the room from Percy as they get closer to midnight; not that he thinks Percy would kiss him, but if, by chance, he did, Nico isn’t sure he would survive it.
“TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!”
The couples kiss – Nico and Percy take a shot. Annabeth presses a quick kiss to Percy’s lips and Nico is bombarded by both Jason and Reyna, which is a strange experience. Hazel kisses his cheek, and everyone cheers, and Nico is a very happy kind of drunk, and Jason slings an arm around his shoulders and Reyna pushes another shot into his hand, and there is a warm feeling in his chest. Percy grins at him and he smiles back. They all fall asleep in Piper’s basement, and in the morning Jason drives him and Hazel home and Nico has a funny feeling that this is going to be a very good year.
The Stoll brother’s throw another party, and Nico is dragged to it once again. Thanks to New Years he has a much better idea as to what alcohol he doesn’t mind and which alcohol tastes like the devil’s piss (beer), so he is nicely buzzed when Percy grabs his hand and drags him into the bathroom.
“Um.”
If he is pleasantly buzzed, Percy is utterly wasted. Nico isn’t sure why he’s so drunk – Percy didn’t normally get like this at parties, and even though he is astonishingly good at hiding it, Nico can tell from the way he grip his arm too tightly, how Nico has to mostly support him, and the overwhelming smell of booze on his breath.
Yeah. They’re that close.
“Why are we in the bathroom?”
Percy shakes his head as if to clear it, and he stares slightly to the left of Nico, as if he is seeing more than one of him. “I wanted to tell you something.”
“And you had to do it in the bathroom?”
“It’s private.”
“It’s a bathroom.” Percy just keeps staring at him, and Nico can’t place the expression on his face. “Are you okay?”
“Am I wrong?”
What the fuck does that even mean? “Wrong about what?”
Later, when he inevitably lays awake and thinks about it for hours and hours, Nico will relive it in slow motion. They way Percy had grabbed his shirt, the way he had leaned forward, how he hadn’t closed his eyes until their lips met. But in the moment Nico sees none of that – all he sees is Percy wobble slightly, and then he slams his lips into Nico’s, so hard it is almost painful.
He becomes hyper aware of a few things at once. One is the wall at his back. The other is Percy’s hand curled around his neck. Then there is the fact that holy shit, he fucking hates beer, but the beer on Percy’s tongue is not as bad as you would think. Maybe because he’s more interested in the fact that Percy’s tongue is in his mouth then the fact that it tastes like beer.
He kisses him back. Obviously. He kisses back as hard as Percy’s kissing him, and it is sloppy and drunk and horrible in such a way that it is almost perfect. He fists his hands in Percy’s shirt and Percy pushes him harder against the wall.
You are probably supposed to stop thinking when you are being kissed so heartily, but Nico can’t seem to turn his brain off. His skin is burning at every place where Percy is touching him. He is at war with himself; he should pull away, he knows he should, because he is drunk and Percy is very, very drunk. Percy has done this before, he had told him, that night a few years ago with Jason. This is apparently a thing that Percy does, and he needs to pull away, because Nico is in love with him and it’s not fair to either of them, not fair to Percy who is just drunk and having fun without worrying about the consequences and not fair to Nico, who is going to go over this with a fine toothed comb and fall asleep with the memory of Percy Jackson pressed against him. Pull away, Nico.
But no, he doesn’t want to pull away, because he is kissing Percy Jackson. And never in his life did he ever think he would be able to actually do this, because that is not the kind of world he lives in. This is some kind of parallel universe that he fell in called ‘Drunk Off Your Ass’ and it’s a whole mess of bad ideas but fuck it, he’s going to enjoy it while it lasts.
Percy kisses the way he does everything, with complete enthusiasm, throwing himself full body (quite literally) into it. Nico’s skin is tingling under Percy’s touch. Part of him thinks he must be dreaming this, but there’s no way he would be able to come up with such insane detail like the tiny chip in one of Percy’s teeth or the obnoxious background music that sounds vaguely like eighties hair metal and besides, if he were dreaming this why would they be in a bathroom? The smell of cleaning product is overwhelming.
There is a knock on the door. “Nico?”
Hazel’s voice jerks him out of his head and he ducks away from Percy, opening the door so hard it nearly flies off its hinges, and he grabs Hazel’s hand, dragging her through the crowd and out the door, ignoring her protests.
“Nico! What are you doing? Was that Percy?”
Nico ignores her, just pulling her through the crowd until he gets to the front door. Hazel plants her feet and stops them in their tracks.
“Hang on. Tell me what the hell is going on. Were you – you were kissing Pe –”
“Don’t!” He cuts her off. There are so many people around and he doesn’t want that said aloud, even though no one is paying them any attention. “I’ll explain, Hazel, I promise, but please I want to get away from here in case he comes looking.”
She narrows her eyes at him but she must see something in his face because she sighs. “All right,” she says, and although she pulls her arm out of his grasp she follows him. Jason had been designated driver but there’s no way Nico was going to wait around for him – he had a vague understanding of the bus system and even if he weren’t, he was willing to risk waking up Persephone to ask her to come get him.
Yeah. It was that bad.
They walk a bit until they are out of sight of the house and then Nico slows. The kissing and the cold air had done an excellent job of sobering him up, and Hazel never drank much, so the stare she levels at him is sharp and searching. “Explain,” she says.
“There’s nothing to explain.”
“Percy kissed you.”
“Yeah. Percy does that.”
Hazel makes an annoyed sound in the back of her throat. “Are you talking about that thing with Jason? That was different.”
“How do you know? You weren’t there.”
“Because he likes you.”
“Would you please stop with that?”
“How can you not see that, Nico? For God’s sake, he took you –”
“Enough, Hazel!” His voice is much sharper than he had intended, and Hazel leans back, surprised; he has never spoken to her like that. He runs a hand over his face. “I’m sorry,” he says immediately. Hazel’s face softens.
“Are you coming back to the party?” She asks, although she probably already knows the answer. He shakes his head.
“I have enough change on me for the bus.” She opens her mouth to argue, but she must be able to sense that he is tired and just wants to be home, so she holds her tongue. Nico is infinitely thankful.
“Be safe. Text me when you get home.”
He nods. Hazel shoots him one last sad look before heading back, and Nico shoves his hands in his pockets, trying to forget Percy Jackson’s taste.
Nico debates skipping school on Monday, but Hazel won’t let him, and besides, short of dropping out, he’ll have to go back eventually. So instead he forms a plan.
The first bell for school is at 9:00, indicating students have five minutes to get to class. He arrives at 9:02, grabs everything that it’s in his locker to ensure he doesn’t have to take any extra trips back, and leaves. He slips in the door exactly at 9:05, right before his teacher closes the door, and sits in the empty desk closest to the door. This is one of the classes he shares with Jason. When the bell rings signifying the end of the class he leaps up and out the door before Jason gets a chance to talk to him.
Lunch he spends back under the bleachers with Clovis, who is so baked that he doesn’t seem to realize Nico ever left. He eats half of Nico’s lunch and Nico waits until the last minute to head back to the school.
He makes it until Friday doing this before Jason corners him under the bleachers. Clovis looks at him blearily. “You’re the quarterback.”
“Yes, I am. Hello, Nico.”
He has a very bad feeling about this, so he doesn’t respond; he just waits. Sure enough, Jason continues.
“Been a while. Is this where you’ve been spending all your time?” Silence. “Your backpack must be pretty heavy, huh, carrying around all your books, since you haven’t visited your locker.”
“Is there a point to this, Jason?” Jason’s voice is heavy with sarcasm and anger.
“Yeah. The point is, where have you been?”
There is no way in hell he is explaining what happened to Jason fucking Grace. So he just shrugs. “Around.”
“That’s a bullshit answer and you know it. Why are you avoiding everybody?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes it matters! We’re your friends, Nico –”
“No, you’re not. I got caught up in this whole thing because of a locker placement and a nice sister. If it weren’t for my locker I never would have even spoken to Percy, and if it weren’t for Hazel none of you would have made an effort to include me. And then Percy goes and –” he stops himself, takes a breath, and continues. “None of this is real, Jason.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you are infuriatingly stubborn?” Nico just stares at him. Jason huffs. “Why is it so hard to accept that people actually enjoy your company? You’re fighting so hard to remain this sad loner but you don’t have to be. Why can’t you believe that people accept you? Why can’t you believe that Percy likes you?”
All the colour drains from Nico’s face. “He told you about that?”
“Consider he’s been hung up on you for months, yeah he fucking did.”
“He’s just confused.”
“For God’s sake, Nico.”
“He kissed you, too.”
“Yeah. For about three seconds. At most.”
Nico is still shaking his head. “He was drunk.”
“He was drunk because he was scared of making a move. He went a little overboard. It happens.”
“I appreciate that you’re trying to make me feel better, but you’ll never be able to convince me that Percy was trying to make a move on me.”
“Who are you to decide that?”
“There are rules, Jason. Rules of life, rules of high school, rules of the universe. And those rules dictate that people like me and people like Percy do not run in the same circles, and that we are not supposed to be friends, and those rules especially state that there is no way in hell the two of us would ever get together.”
Jason rolls his eyes. “There are no rules, Nico. The universe doesn’t have laws. The universe is huge, you think it gives a shit about who you date in high school? All that matters is us. What you think and what you feel is the only thing that matters. People have accepted you.”
“Easy for you to say. Jason Grace, quarterback, golden boy. Everyone’s always accepted you.”
“That has nothing to do with this.”
“One of these days you’re all going to get tired of putting an effort in for me and –”
“That’s stupid.”
It’s probably overdramatic to say that his blood ran cold, but Nico has a bit of a penchant for being overdramatic. Percy is behind Jason, only wearing a sweater, shoulders huddled up to his ears to try and keep warm. Jason looks between them before raising his hands and bowing out. Nico strongly resists the urge to follow.
“Seriously. Do you have any idea how fucking stupid you’re being?”
“Is this your brilliant way of trying to get me to come back?”
“No, this is me finally telling you that you’re a goddamn idiot, which I’ve wanted to do for a really long time, to be honest, but I didn’t want to scare you away, because you’re so effing jumpy, Nico, Jesus.”
“I’m only jumpy because –”
“No, you don’t get to talk. I’m sorry that I kissed you like that, but I’m not going to let you stand there and accuse me of jerking you around.”
He waits for a bit, but Percy doesn’t say anything else. “Oh, am I allowed to talk now?”
“Not if you’re going to regurgitate the same arguments.”
“They’re good arguments.”
“They’re bullshit arguments, Nico. You can’t base this off the fact that we run in different circles, or whatever the fuck you said. That’s a stupid argument. It doesn’t hold salt.”
“Water.”
“What?”
“It doesn’t hold water.”
“So what’s the salt?”
“Grain of salt.”
Percy laughs. “Shit. Do you see? My mind’s somewhere else.”
“Where is it?”
“Under these goddamn bleachers.”
Nico sighs, although his anger is abating. Something about Percy’s smile. He hates it.
“I don’t understand why you – how any of you –”
“Is your self-esteem that shitty?” He sounds genuinely concerned. Jesus, he’s annoying.
“Not really, not anymore. I guess I just… our lockers, Percy. That’s all that connected us. If that didn’t happen, none of this would have happened.”
“But it did. There’s no use wondering about what would have happened. It’s like… serendipity.”
Nico raises his eyebrows. “Serendipity?”
Percy blushes a bright shade of red. “My mother was watching it over the weekend. Not a bad movie.”
“You’re utterly ridiculous.”
Percy takes a hesitant step forward. “You kissed me back.”
Nico was kind of hoping they could have avoided this particular part of the story. “You kissed Jason.”
“That was nothing like this, and you know it. You’re just looking for excuses.”
“You were drunk.” He is sounding like a broken record and he knows it.
“I took you on a date, Nico.”
Oh, Hazel was going to have a field day. “I didn’t think it was a date,” he mumbles.
“We went to a shitty movie by ourselves.”
“That doesn’t mean anything!”
“We shared a bag of popcorn.”
And Nico can’t help it – he laughs. Because this is utterly ridiculous. He is standing under the bleachers in the cold trying to argue with Percy Jackson about whether or not they went on a date. What the fuck.
And Percy laughs too. And it seems ridiculous that he doubted this, because it is so easy, easier than Nico ever thought things could be.
“So it was a date, then.”
“Yeah.”
“And the – when you kissed me…”
“Yeah. Real. I got drunker than I should have, but I was scared.”
Nico sighs and toes at the ground. “All right.”
“All right?”
“All right. I believe you.”
Percy grins, and he watches it spread slowly across his face, and he thinks about the fact that he’s had those lips pressed up against his, and apparently Percy had meant it. Percy takes another step towards him, and he is right in front of him now, and Percy is grinning, and he leans in, and it’s going to happen again, and he’s going to be sober –
“Uh. I’m all for love, but…”
Fucking Clovis.
“Clovis. I forgot you were here.”
“That tends to happen.” Clovis grins at him. Percy pulls on his arm lightly.
“C’mon. Lunch is almost over, anyway.”
He follows, but right before they enter the school again Percy leans in quickly and kisses him briefly on the lips. Nico lets him.
He was never really one for rules, anyway.