Chapter Text
Nico had thought he’d been strangely calm about the whole thing. Approaching the subject with Percy had been almost too easy. Making plans had been embarrassing, but otherwise no big problems had presented themselves. All had sailed smoothly.
Honestly. It was about time he started freaking out.
“I,” he told Bianca and Hazel gravely. “Simply cannot do it.”
Then he marched back into the bathroom.
“Nico!” Bianca moaned, following him inside with quick strides. “C’mon, little brother, you know it’s just nerves!”
“Just nerves!” he shrieked, coming up to the door with his towel wrapped tightly around his chest. Bianca had to halt before she ran over him. “Easy for you to say, Miss Celibacy!”
Her cheeks went red with embarrassment. “Well, all right, maybe I don’t have life experience,” she said primly. “But I—Well, I—Annabeth!” She whirled around and pointed at the girl decidedly. “You’ve had sex! Tell him it’s just nerves!”
From her spot on the mattress next to Annabeth, Thalia groaned and hid her face in a pillow. She hadn’t been planned company for the pre-date get together. Nico suspected Bianca had blackmailed her into coming, and that she was now busy regretting her life choices.
Annabeth raised her eyes from her laptop, over her brand new reading glasses. She made Nico question his sexuality sometimes. Or maybe he just had a glasses fetish. “It’s just nerves, Nico,” she said, in an even, bookish voice.
Nico groaned and stomped back into the bathroom.
“I think that wasn’t very convincing,” Hazel said gently, handing Annabeth the jeans she’d been holding. “Nico! Come on out so we can talk about this.”
“No.” the boy replied, as dry as a burning twig. “I won’t. I’m never letting Percy see me naked. Ever. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. I’ve managed to avoid that for six months of relationship, and I’m not giving up now.” He hitched the towel up higher, leaning forward and protecting his chest with his arms. “Ever,” he repeated, in a whisper.
Bianca looked at Annabeth. Annabeth glanced at Hazel. Hazel took the lead.
“Nico,” she called, softly sliding next to him on the bathtub’s edge. “Why are you scared of Percy seeing you naked?”
“I’m not scared,” he said, looking up at Bianca and Annabeth by the door. They gave him a look. “I’m not,” he insisted. “I don’t need a reason for not wanting to be seen naked.”
“No,” Annabeth agreed, leaning a hip on the door frame. “But do you have one?”
Nico blushed, pulling his knees to his chest, and gave them a shy look under his eyelids. “I’m…” He ducked his head. “It’s just… I never get naked in front of guys. Cis guys, that is. In years.”
Annabeth and Hazel looked at Bianca, as if for confirmation. She shrugged neutrally. It made sense to her, but she wasn’t going about questioning her brother’s gym locker habits.
“Well,” Hazel began, taping idly at the door. “But Percy is not just a cis guy. He’s… your… cis guy?” she finished, doubtingly looking at the girls for support. Annabeth had to bit her lips. Hazel slapped her arm with half-hearted strength. “Don’t laugh!”
“I’m not!” Annabeth said, smiling fondly at Hazel and reaching out to touch her elbow. “You’ve got a point.”
“What if he doesn’t think I’m attractive?” Nico insisted, but that caused the general room to snort.
“Oh, he thinks you’re attractive all right,” Annabeth said, rolling her eyes with exasperated fondness. “The number of times I caught him staring at your ass.”
“Lots,” Bianca supplied helpfully.
“Tons,” Hazel added, with a serious, grave nod.
“It’s embarrassing!” Thalia called out from the bed.
Nico gave a small smile, his bouncing nerves calming down enough to allow for clearer thought. He suspected the butterflies in his stomach might’ve grown teeth.
“You’ve got nothing to worry about, Nico,” Bianca said, catching him by the shoulders and gently steering him out of the bathroom. “You have it all talked about, and it’s not like Percy doesn’t know what to do! Annabeth taught him stuff.”
“And I taught him well,” the girl stressed, with a tiny smug grin. Thalia groaned.
“Why did you all drag me into this? I’m celibate!” she cried, looking up at the heavens. “And that’s for a reason! Cause sex is gross!”
“Tone it down, Thalia,” Bianca said, tossing a shirt at her head. “We are here for moral support.”
“And fashion advice,” Hazel added, picking up Nico’s binders and raising them so everyone could see it. “Black or white?”
“White,” Annabeth said immediately, raising her laptop when a disgruntled Thalia face-planted into her lap. “For sure.”
“But the black one is newer,” Nico protested, unsurely. Bianca shook her head.
“It’s hot as Hephaestus’ forges out there,” she said, taking the white binder and offering it to her brother. “You’ll get heatstroke if you use the black one.”
Annabeth nodded sagely.
“Blue shirt,” Hazel added, fishing it from Nico’s wardrobe and passing it to him firmly. “Percy likes it when you wear blue.”
“He does?” Nico asked with surprise, sending the girls into giggling fits.
“You hadn’t noticed?” Thalia asked, emerging from Annabeth’s lap with a cheek smashed to the girl’s knee. “He gets that whole… male thing…” She waved her hand in the air scornfully. “About you wearing his colors or whatever. Every time you wear blue or green he starts drooling. It’s so glaring.”
Annabeth smirked knowingly. She raised her head, and looked all of them dead in the eyes, building up tension. Then, enunciating each syllable like a song, she declared: “Beach day.”
The room erupted in loud laughter.
“Right!” Bianca cried, laughing so hard she was crying. “When he wore Percy’s shirt.”
“I thought he was gonna break his jaw,” Hazel said, hiding her laughter behind her hands. She was one to talk, considering she was wearing Leo’s shirt. Possibly Frank’s shorts.
“Oh,” Nico echoed, cheeks turning a bright pink. He looked away thoughtfully, his eyes fixing on a memory. “So that’s what that was all about.”
An abrupt silence crash-landed on the room.
“What was what all about?” Bianca asked, with a devilish smile. Nico’s face boiled so abruptly steam came out of his ears.
“Nothing!” he squeaked, dashing back inside the bathroom to change. Annabeth called out after him:
“I can guess what ‘that’ was!” And sent the girls into another giggling fit.
“You are all the worst!” Nico said, coming out with a red face. He smoothed his shirt anxiously. “Do I look good?”
Hazel reached out for him, taking his hands and squeezing them. “You look great, Nico,” she assured softly. “His head will spin.”
“And just remember,” Bianca added somberly. “You can tell him to stop at any time.”
“Any time!” Thalia stressed, shaking a determined finger at him.
Nico smiled at them, his heart doing the tipty-tapt, and reached out to hug Hazel. “Thank you, sis.” He took a deep breath. “Really.”
Hazel was about to answer him, but someone began knocking loudly on the door. “Are you all decent?” Piper called impishly. “Can I come in?”
“Is he here already?!” Nico squeaked, fretting about in place like a trapped bird. “Oh my gods, where’s my wallet? Has anyone seen my wallet?”
“Calm down, Di Angelo,” Thalia said, waving the wallet right under his nose. “You left it on the bed.”
“Come in!” Hazel called to the person at the door.
“Well, Percy’s clothed and delivered,” Piper declared, marching in and promptly perching on Annabeth’s lap. “My job keeping fish boy from freaking is done. Tell me again why I got saddled with Percy.”
Annabeth smiled, wrapping one arm around Piper. “We can’t trust Thalia, Bianca and Hazel are bound to Nico by sisterly honor, and Reyna alone would’ve killed him.”
“Why didn’t you do it?” Piper asked good-naturedly, pecking her in the lips. “Sending your girlfriends to do your dirty work. Reyna and I should just run away together into the sunset.”
Annabeth rolled her eyes. “Percy gets embarrassed when I try to give him relationship advice.”
“You’re his ex-girlfriend!” Hazel said, wrestling Nico into a sitting position to put on his shoes. “It is embarrassing.”
“I’m his best friend!” Annabeth disagreed hotly. “Plus, Nico doesn’t mind.”
“Nico has got to get going,” Bianca intervened firmly, shooing him towards the door. “Everyone say good luck!”
“Good luck!” the girl chorused cheerfully. Nico caught a last glimpse of them waving and shouting encouragements before Hazel kissed him in the cheek and shut the door at his back.
Oh, dear gods.
Taking a few great gulps of air, Nico began going down the stairs. His heart was trumpeting away at his chest, but he’d long ago learned to tell eager anxious from dread anxious. This was eager anxious all around.
Percy was waiting for him downstairs, hands in his pockets, swaying back and forth on his heels. He looked jittery. Like he was nervous, too.
That made Nico feel unspeakably calmer.
“Waiting for me?” he called, trying for light-hearted teasing. It might have come out a little breathy.
Percy turned around, that big smile of his already blooming on his face, but froze halfway through. Months back, Nico would’ve immediately freaked, wondering what was wrong. Now, he knew Percy well enough to recognize that stare. Oh, gods.
“Movie first!” he told him, firmly, making Percy smile cheekily. He reached out for Nico, pulling him into a greeting kiss.
“Hi,” he said, putting their foreheads together. “You look great.”
Nico blushed, his hands resting on Percy’s waist, and smiled breathlessly. “You too,” he sighed, a bit giddy. “You got the tickets?”
“Two for Pacific Rim,” Percy agreed, wrapping one arm around Nico’s shoulders and smiling his stupid, dazzling, movie star smile. “For the sixth time.”
Nico groaned with embarrassment, pressing his face against Percy’s shoulder and slipping one hand into his back pocket. “I told you we could go see something else.”
“And miss the cute faces you make every time Pentercost is onscreen? No way!” He kissed Nico’s forehead, the two of them walking to the subway glued to each other despite the heat. “I love them.”
“I don’t make cute faces at Pentercost!” Nico protested, and they spent the whole walk to the movies bickering at each other light-heartedly.
Things were pretty much perfect until half-way through the movie. Nico’s nerves had stopped screaming, and where now down to a pleasant hum. Percy had never stopped touching him for a second, which honestly meant the only thing keeping him from jumping his bones was Mako Mori being awesome in the big screen.
Until he noticed the guys a couple sits over staring.
At first, he told himself he was imagining it. Then, he found himself wishing they had a problem with two boys on a date.
But Nico was just too used to that particular brand of staring.
He fidgeted, pressing closer to Percy’s side and shrinking in on himself under his arm. He tried to pay attention to the movie, but he could feel their guessing, hot like a bonfire in his skin. Gods, he hated this. He hated this, he hated it, he hated…
“FUCK!”
Nico jumped, his head swinging fast to the side. The guys’ sodas had exploded all over them, and by the looks of it, gotten right into their eyes and up their noses. They kept trying to swab at it with their napkins, but nothing got absorbed: their eyelids had gotten so sticky they could barely open their eyes.
“That’s sure odd,” Percy said, nonchalantly munching on their shared popcorn. Nico poked him on the side.
“What am I gonna do with you?” he replied, unable to hold back his smile. Percy grinned.
“I have two answers for that, and, frankly, I can’t decide which one I prefer,” he said, snuggling Nico closer. The boy threw his legs over his lap cozily. “I could tell you ‘Turn me into a nice rug’…” Nico began laughing, pressing his face against his chest. “Or…”
Percy shifted, leaning so he could whisper in his ear, voice dropping to a seductive whisper. “That you can do anything you want with me.”
Nico’s blood boiled like a kettle.
Oh, good.
Now he was never gonna be able to watch the movie.
“Percy?” he whispered back, grabbing his hand very, very tight.
“Yeah?” Percy replied, still in that nice voice.
“Let’s get out of here.”
The minute they stepped out of the room, they were both suddenly overtaken by a giggling fit. Nico felt like a complete teenager, dashing after his boyfriend with their hands linked, stopping every few feet to make out because they were just that desperate. They were gonna get arrested at this pace. He didn’t really care.
Stumbling up Percy’s stairs was nothing short of a miracle, cause they couldn’t stop kissing for long enough to watch the way. The moment the front door finally slammed, Nico was just about ready to tear Percy’s clothes off.
They tumbled into the couch, fitting against each other – Percy falling between Nico’s leg as if he’d been there for a lifetime. “Oh, wow,” Nico panted, when his boyfriend’s lips moved to his neck, digging his fingers in his hair. “That’s—Percy, oh gods—that’s… just don’t stop doing that.”
Percy chuckled, shifting so he could bear his own weight, and put his hands on the boy’s hips. “All right,” he said, sweetly, making small circles with his thumbs. “Remember to tell me if I’m doing anything you don’t like. Okay?”
Nico’s heart squeezed into his throat, and he nodded, squirming under him. “You too,” he replied, shyly reaching for Percy’s shirt. He held it tight, breath picking up, and looked at his boyfriend’s face. “Can I?”
Percy nodded, sitting up more so Nico could pull it up. He was never getting tired of seeing him shirtless. Ever.
“Percy?” he called, softly, letting the boy’s t-shirt fall to the floor. “You… you might want to let me get out of my binder. It’s, it’s a bit of tight fit.”
Nico’s heart was picking up again, this time with the first, tiniest hint of dread anxious. Percy’s eyes were gentle, as were his hands when he reached out to cup his face. Melting into him was so easy, Nico’s mind went completely blank for whole minutes when they kissed. It was exhilarating.
“Do you want to keep your shirt on?” Percy asked, sweetly, his lips still lingering above Nico’s. “I mean. I think keeping your binder might give you heatstroke, but you can keep the t-shirt.”
Nico looked at him, feeling his chest go so tight he thought he’d might choke from it. How did Percy even read his mind like that? He seemed to pick on Nico’s thoughts before he’d even had them.
“I…” he managed, gulping through wet eyes. “I think I would prefer that. Yeah.”
Percy smiled, kissing his cheek affectionately. “All right,” he said, easily, as if it was just that simple.
“All right,” Nico agreed, and he thought, so happy he felt faint, maybe it really was that simple.