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Jason was well used to liking people out of his league.
Of course, there’d been Piper. A daughter of Aphrodite, charm speaker, she had always been too good for him. It wasn’t that Jason wasn’t a catch himself - he’d been told otherwise a number of times - but he knew there were so many people above him.
Like Nico di Angelo.
They’d been hanging out a lot recently, especially after Piper and Jason had drifted apart and Nico and Will had broken up. Nico had a lot of people there for him, but not many he trusted. Jason understood that. He was sure he didn’t know the full extent of what Nico had gone through, but even what he knew was astounding.
He’d lost his sister. Not Hazel, but another sister, which made the way he clung to Hazel when she came over make sense. Jason wasn’t sure how she’d died, but he didn’t want to ask. He did know that his sister had chosen to be reincarnated instead of staying in the underworld as a ghost.
Jason was unreasonably lucky to have Thalia, who was almost immortal, as a sister.
“There was this one ghost,” Nico said, face tinted green not by unhealthiness but by the fire they’d started. “He kind of manipulated me. I was trying to get Bianca back, you know, but she wouldn’t even talk to me. As a ghost, I mean.”
“You were, like, ten, right?” Jason asked. He pulled a marshmallow off his stick and popped it in his mouth. They didn’t have any graham crackers or chocolate. Nico had offered to shadow travel to a store and get some, but Jason didn’t want him to overexert himself.
(“You worry too much,” Nico had told him, smiling a little. “Don’t go Will on me.”)
“Eleven,” Nico said. “Maybe twelve, I don’t remember.”
“You don’t remember how old you were?” Jason asked.
“Can you talk?” Nico asked, rhetorically. “Isn’t your memory still gone or something? Because of Hera or all the times you’ve been hit in the head?”
“Okay, okay,” Jason laughed. “Never mind. Hey, didn’t you say your memory was gone? Like, from before you were ten or something?”
“It’s coming back,” Nico said, leaning back and watching the fire. “I was dipped in the Lethe, so I don’t know how, uh… common that is, I guess. Common isn’t the word I was looking for. Predictable. Uh… do you have a thesaurus?”
Jason laughed again. He laughed a lot around Nico. “No phone,” he said.
“You know those things were originally books, right?” Nico rolled his eyes, then scowled in frustration. “Huh. I can’t think of the word in Italian either.”
“Oh, yeah, you know Italian,” Jason perked up. “That’s pretty cool. I mean, I know Latin and all, but I didn’t even really learn that, y’know? It’s just in my brain. But you went and learned that, right?”
“I didn’t ‘go and learn’ Italian,” Nico corrected, a ghost of a smile on his face. “That’s my first language. I was born in Italy, remember? I learned English, though. Second language.”
“That’s really cool,” Jason said. “I should learn something. Frank’s from Canada, right? Does he know French. I bet I could learn French. Or, hey, Italian. You could teach me. You would, right?”
“Maybe not,” Nico said. “I’d hate for you to understand what I say about everyone behind their backs.”
“Nothing bad about me, I hope?” Jason leaned on his hand.
“You’ll never know,” Nico shrugged. “No, nothing bad. Well, sometimes bad. But nothing I mean. I mostly just tease you.”
“Thanks for that,” Jason said. “Wanna play Would You Rather?”
Nico blinked. “What’s that?”
“You don’t know that game? Oh man.” Jason’s marshmallow was burning. It accurately portrayed how he felt on the inside. “We gotta play. Basically, we just say two things, and then which one we would rather do. So, I say, uhh, ‘would you rather be chased around by a bear or have a leg cut off by a chainsaw with no immediate medical attention?”
“Damn,” Nico said, almost impressed with Jason’s question. “Chased around by a bear. I could just shadow travel away, anyway.”
“I guess,” Jason said. “Kinda cheating.”
“Kinda whatever.” Nico thought for a moment. “Would you rather… go back to New Rome or lose one of your friends?”
“Which friend?” Jason joked. “Cuz I’m still pretty mad at Leo. Kidding. Go back to New Rome. I would still see you guys.”
Nico nodded, smiling. “I can’t believe you weren’t here for him getting back. I lined everyone up and had them take numbers to punch him. It was great. Why were you even gone, anyway? I missed you.”
I missed you. Jason had been gone, really, because it was too hard
“I got sick of Will hanging on you,” Jason said, which wasn’t a lie. “He was kinda annoying.”
Nico snorted, putting a hand over his mouth. “You could’ve helped me with that, you know,” he said. “Your turn.”
“Would you rather kiss me or Percy?” Oh gods.
That question… that one he hadn’t meant to ask.
Nico was staring at him, face still frozen in a grin. “You’re a fucking asshole,” he said, wondrously, and oh gods, Jason had fucked up. “You, I guess. Percy’s more of an asshole. I’m pretty sure he still spreads rumors about me when he’s at camp.”
“He doesn’t,” Jason protested, though he wasn’t sure if that was true. He liked to believe the best of Percy, though. “It’s your turn.”
Nico thought for a long minute. “Would you rather…” he began. “...kiss me right now or never in all time?”
Well.
“That’s a tough one,” Jason said, voice shaky. “Do you, uh… want me to kiss you?”
“You know the answer to that,” Nico said.
Jason kissed him.
It was less fireworks and more right . Kissing Nico was almost as easy as flying, and it probably would’ve been easier if he hadn’t been so nervous. Kissing him was calm, slow, nervous but good .
Nico pulled away. “Thanks for that,” he said, a little breathily. “Oh, gods.”
“You’re, uh.” Jason laughed a little, still shaky. “You’re welcome.”
Nico fell onto his back, over the log he was sitting on. He started laughing, which was usually nice to hear, but it sounded off to Jason this time. Nico quieted a few moments, still on the ground.
“Oh wow,” he murmured. His eyes were closed tight.
“You okay?” Jason asked, turning his body toward Nico.
“Yeah,” Nico laughed. “Yes, uh… I really like you, Jason.”
Those words were probably the most romantic words Jason had heard. “Yeah,” he said, and his voice came out a bit weak. “Me too,” he continued, louder.
Nico was still.
Jason moved onto the log Nico was laying on.
“Me too.”