Work Text:
Nico had disappeared.
That wasn’t unusual, though Percy wasn’t a fan of how often it happened. He could understand that Nico liked privacy and easily got overwhelmed by people. Being introverted was different from vanishing for weeks at a time without telling your friends you’d be gone, and Percy wasn’t a fan of Nico’s tendency to do the latter. The difference this time was that they were in Nico’s domain, one of the places he would often go to when he was escaping the world of the living.
The mission had been straightforward: track down some escaped souls for Hades and wrangle them back. It was such a simple task for Nico that Percy wasn’t strictly needed, but he’d insisted on coming along and Hades had shockingly sided with him when Nico tried to protest. As expected, the mission went as smoothly as could be expected with the typical demigod shenanigans— (Percy could now add demon raccoons to his list of monsters he’d dealt with and had no desire to fight again.) They should have been well on their way back to Camp Jupiter by now, but Hades had inexplicably warmed to the idea of Percy being in the Underworld and invited them to stay for dinner. (Percy fervently hoped he hadn’t been tricked into eating any food that would make him stay here forever. He’d carefully avoided any pomegranates.) Then they’d been tortured with treated to a performance by Persephone’s personal orchestra, none of whom played instruments that actually existed anymore. She was not the goddess of music for a reason, Percy had decided. He’d belatedly realized that Nico was gone somewhere in the second act.
“Of all the places, I didn’t think I’d find you here,” he grumbled. Nico’s back was to a golden tree with crystalline flowers. Around them was a garden of similar plants, all twinkling in the greenish glow of the Underworld.
“Sorry for ditching, but I’ve had to sit through it more times than I can count. Figured you could handle it once.”
“I didn’t know what a sackbut sounded like, and I didn’t need to.”
Nico’s mouth twitched as Percy was 90% positive he restrained himself from making a dirty joke. With a name like that, they wrote themselves.
“Thank you for your sacrifice,” Nico said gravely instead.
With a sigh, Percy flopped down beside him. Neither of them spoke for a minute. Usually, Percy didn’t do well with silence, but after that cacophony, he was grateful for it. Besides, he found it easier to be quiet around Nico. It may have been uncomfortable once with a long-simmering tension always bubbling between them. They’d had to figure each other out again after the war with the giants and Nico’s coming out. Back then, Percy had interpreted silence as disinterest and sought to fill it any way he could. He’d been desperate to let Nico know that he was here, accepting and open and ready to be friends. Ironically, it almost drove Nico away again.
“The more you chase him, the more he’ll want to run away,” Annabeth said after Percy lamented to her that Nico hadn’t responded to his texts for the fifth day in a row. “He knows you care. You just have to let him come to you.”
Annabeth had been right, as she was about most things. Nico eventually showed up on Percy’s doorstep and stayed for an hour playing video games. And then two hours. Then three. Then tagged along when the Seven went to see a movie. Then occasionally ate lunch with Percy at Camp Jupiter in between classes. And eventually found the words to tell Percy that he appreciated the effort Percy put in, just that it was a lot. The world was a lot, and Nico didn’t always know how to deal with it.
They’d found their footing. Now, Percy found being quiet with Nico calming rather than stressful.
“This is my favorite place,” Nico said. It wasn’t strange for him to be the one to break the silence. Percy had learned to let him initiate.
“Anywhere or just here?”
Nico thought for a second. “I guess it’s tied with Venice, but definitely my favorite place in the Underworld.”
Percy looked around, truly appreciating the garden for the first time. The palace walls blocked any view of the Fields of Asphodel. This little corner didn’t seem quite as gloomy as the rest of the Underworld. The colors were so bright, they should have been bordering on unnatural—bold fuchsias, punchy reds, vivid greens. Something else about the garden was a little too manicured for Percy’s liking. Each vine climbing the wall was too evenly spaced, each stem stood a little too straight. The leaves and stalks were metallic while the flowers were made of jewels. Still… it didn’t feel entirely artificial. There was a pulse thrumming through it, a steady rhythm of breathing, growing, and living.
“Did Hades—or I guess Pluto—make these?” Percy asked.
“He and Persephone made them together,” Nico said. “She tried to make a garden, but it just wouldn’t last long down here.”
“I guess plants wouldn’t do very well in the Underworld.”
Nico shook his head. “Something about it… I don’t know. I like that my dad helped her figure out a way to still have one.”
Percy grinned at him. “Yeah, that’s pretty romantic. Didn’t know you were such a sap.”
Nico shoved his shoulder, just as Percy expected. He laughed, noticing that there was a smile hovering around Nico’s mouth too.
“That’s not what I meant. It’s the fact that they found a way to make it work.”
“I’ve heard marriage is all about compromise.”
“I will leave you down here.”
Percy held in his laugh this time and gestured for Nico to continue. He did, with a roll of his eyes.
“It’s the not giving up that I like. Making something that’s alive even in the land of the dead… Deciding to live.”
Nico’s words settled heavily on Percy’s shoulders. Nico wasn’t often vocal about his mental health struggles, but they all knew. There were things that Percy knew he would never fully understand; it had to be so much harder for someone whose existence was linked so closely to death to find their place in life. The fact that Nico looked at these plants and appreciated their defiance… The garden was suddenly a thousand times more beautiful.
“Kind of like us then,” he said in almost a whisper. “We keep going, even when we don’t want to.”
Nico nodded. “Even when it’s really hard.”
Percy shifted just a smidge closer so that their shoulders were brushing. There were a thousand things he wanted to say, but truthfully, Nico knew them already. I’m glad you’re here. If you need anything you can tell me. I’m proud of you for choosing life.
Nico leaning slightly to press their shoulders together was the answer to all of those things.
This is all I need.
Silence hung around them again. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but it had a different tone. It held every memory of what they’d been through and the weight of every time they’d decided to keep going.
Decided. Percy mulled over the word. There was a big difference between refusing to die and choosing to live. He was pretty sure Nico was the only person who knew how much he understood that.
An elbow nudged his.
“Hey,” Nico said, as if he could read Percy’s mind. “I’m glad you’re here too.”
Warm affection filled Percy’s chest as he elbowed Nico back.
“Well, if we’re choosing life, why don’t we get out of the Underworld?”
“Persephone will kill us if we leave without saying goodbye.”
“Does that mean an encore?”
“You know what…” Nico stood. “Let’s risk it.”
As they left the garden, Percy threw one last glance over his shoulder. The jeweled flowers twinkled like they were winking at him. It was peaceful and welcoming, but he wasn’t tempted to stay here for any longer. He’d probably come back with Nico at some point and enjoy his company in this special place again. And maybe someday, if he could stay on Hades’s good side, he’d be able to return whenever he liked.
But that could wait, hopefully for many years. For now, he followed Nico back into the sun.