"The moment I met you,
I held my breath.
And you've been taking
it away ever since,
Nico di Angelo."
[ NICO DI ANGELO x MALE OC ]
[ PERCY JACKSON SERIES ]
[ HEROES OF OLYMPUS SERIES ]
cover by @humaneity !
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0011. | THE GREAT GOD HAS A TENDENCY TO BE TIMID
"Vela?"
Vela liked how his name was said. He was enamoured by the way that Nico said his name, that Italian accent that still lingered in his voice that made him say his name like Vela, not Vela—it made his heart race when Nico said his name. His mother said his name with warmth, like sunlight breaking through clouds, thawing outwards from his chest in a way that felt comforting... it felt like a reassurance that she would always be there for him, always watching in case he ever needed her. People said Vela's name in many different ways, but none had ever had such a joyous effect on him as Percy saying his name aloud for the first time in six months.
Vela felt his ears shift to the top of his head, his eyes wide with alarm, with hope. His tail lifted, his expression brightened, but Percy looked furious.
Percy staggered to his feet, his previously sickly face now stricken with anger as he snapped his head around, trying to find something. He found it. A clothing rail of rainbow printed shorts that he snatched a pair from and threw at Vela's feet. "Go change." He snarled. "Now."
Vela's ears flattened against his head as Percy raised his voice at him. Suddenly his voice wasn't as joyous as Vela thought he would have been. He sounded angry, he sounded hurt. Vela cringed at himself for thinking Percy would be happy to see him. He had spent the last two months lying to him, hiding his identity. Of course he had done it for Percy's best interest, but Percy didn't know that. Vela felt awful.
He picked up the shorts from the floor cautiously, anxious to not make Percy even madder at him as he crept away behind the till counter to change.
Vela's bones cracked as he phased back in the cover of the counter and he stayed crouched as he stretched out his stiff neck and flexed his fingers that had spent so long as paws. He unclipped the shorts off of the clothes hanger and slid them on, sliding the gym shorts up his legs until the waistband sat low on his hips and he was sufficiently covered to not give the women in the room a heart attack.
Nervously, he stood up, fully extending his legs so that he could be seen, and so that he could see them too.
Percy met his eyes immediately. His sea green eyes were rimmed with red, bloodshot, and so obviously close to crying. His face was contorted, straining to hide his anger, but also his tears. Percy was upset. His sickly pale skin was slick with a shine of sweat over his cheeks that looked sallow with his sudden shock and Vela, with his sharp vision, could see his chin wobble with the need to cry.
Vela scratched the back of his neck. "Hi, Percy."
Percy's bottom lip shook worse upon hearing him speak. "Two months, Vela." He said, his voice shaking. "Two fucking months."
