Since We Met (Percy Jackson Fanfiction) AU

Ch. 16- Life's For the Living

-Passenger

October 30, 2011 (14- basically 14; freshman; Percy)

Percy woke up the next morning feeling colder than usual. Nico was on the edge of the bed, his arm dangling off the edge, and his raven black hair covering his eyes. Percy was tempted to reach out and scoop him back in, but he didn't want to push it too far.

Nico breathed lightly as he slept soundly. It was earlier than Percy ever woke. He reached out a tentative hand and placed it on Nico's bare shoulder. He must've woken up at some point to remove his shirt. Percy's hand moved down to his shoulder blades. Nico showed no sign of waking up. Percy counted the light freckles specked across his back and trailed his spine.

This was most definitely an encroachment of friendly boundaries, but Percy had yearned to hold Nico for so long, it was hard to restrain himself with Nico right there.

He thought back to the night before. If Will, Leo, Thalia, and Annabeth hadn't been there.... God, Percy couldn't stand Will. He felt he was a little too close to his best friend. Him and his stupid, sandy blond hair and bright blue eyes and stupid perfect smile.

Percy had never felt such burning rage for someone who wasn't his father or Smelly Gabe. He knew he had no right to say anything because he was dating Annabeth, but that didn't make the anger any easier to manage.

Percy knew he should be happy for Nico. He should be happy that Nico made friends and has someone to hang out with when he was with Annabeth. But he just wasn't. It was selfish as hell, but he couldn't help it.

Then during the movie, Percy could barely concentrate because he was so aware of Nico hiding behind Will's arm. Percy couldn't help but feel it should've been his arms Nico hid behind. But Percy was there with Annabeth. He sighed, wondering why he felt so torn. If he was with Nico, he wanted Nico. If he was with Annabeth, he wanted Annabeth. If he was with both, he could behave with Annabeth, but mainly paid attention to Nico. It didn't make any sense to him.

Percy thought back to when they were younger, and the way it had felt to kiss Nico. So new, and strange, but so electrifying and... nice. Percy yearned to attempt it again. But he couldn't.

Percy drifted back to sleep as he traced Nico's back, and when he woke up again, he was alone in the room. He groaned and sat up, rubbing his face. He put on his shoes and left the room. Nico was at the dining table working on his geometry homework and Azrael was in the kitchen making breakfast.

"Morning," Nico said when he saw Percy shuffle in.

"Good morning, Percy. You're up early," Azrael said.

"Am I?" Percy looked at the clock. It was only nine in the morning. He sat by Nico. "Nine in the morning and you're working on geometry?" He smiled and shook his head. "Good morning. Good morning Mr. Azrael." He looked over at Nico's work. "Ugh, that's not good for my dyslexic eyes this early."

Nico smiled and rolled his eyes. "You'll see it's actually just common sense. The trick is not to just memorize the equations, but to actually understand why they are what they are. For example, a square is length times width, right? A triangle is base times height divided by two. It basically means half of a square. Get it?"

Percy stared at Nico with his head leaning on his hand. "You lost me at understand what they are." Nico rolled his eyes, but smiled. That was the good thing about Nico. He didn't lose his patience when Percy didn't understand something.

Percy thought back to last night when Nico said he wanted to meet a girl who challenged him intellectually. Percy was a D+ student. Hearing that had really affected his confidence, and even now he felt a little stupid for not even trying to understand Nico.