Alone Again (Percico/Pernico AU)

Chapter 55

The boys spoke in unison, "Nico di Angelo."
*****

At approximately 8 P.M., Saturday night had come, and Grover nearly shoved Percy out the door ten minutes before he was supposed to be at the Grace apartment with Nico di Angelo.

Alone.

Now, he was standing in front of the door with the thought of running back home sitting in the back of his mind. Percy was about to spin around on his heels when the door opened and Jason stepped out.

"Good timing, Jackson," the blonde said, giving Percy room to enter the apartment."

Percy responded intelligently, "Uh...yeah."

"Well, have fun," Jason struggled to not smile at Percy's actions as he winked at the green-eyed boy and strolled down the hallway.

Percy stared after him and took a deep breath before walking inside and closing the door behind him. Why was he nervous? They were just going to watch Netflix and eat food, nothing more and nothing less. Nico was standing by the microwave making popcorn, which meant he had the same plan in mind.

Get over yourself, Jackson, he thought, he's just your friend.

"Take a seat and stay a while," Nico called over to him, ignoring Percy's glare at his dad-like statement as he sat.

He put the popcorn into a bowl and made his way out to the couch, plopping down next to Percy and throwing a couple pieces of popcorn at him.

Percy gasped dramatically and reaching across Nico's body to grab a few pieces of his own to throw at Nico, who didn't even bother trying to avoid them. The older of the two was pretending to be annoyed, but Nico could easily see the hint of a smile that reflected his own.

With a couple minutes more of playful interaction and banter, they finally settled down and turned on a rather bad horror movie they'd found. It had ghosts, demons, oujia boards, the whole shebang. They'd only gotten about an hour into the movie, at what time the popcorn was long gone, when Percy turned his head to yawn.

Nico looked over at him. "You're in for a long night if you're tired now."

"I'll be fine," Percy claimed, "I just didn't sleep last night."

"Is everything okay?" Nico asked concernedly, pausing the movie. In Percy's opinion, they could have just let it play so he no longer had to suffer through the bad acting and special effects, but he guessed he would just deal with it.

Percy shrugged. "Grover and I talked about it all yesterday, I'll spare you."

The brown-eyed boy still didn't seem convinced, but he resumed their movie regardless. He set the remote down on the short table in front of him before sitting back and leaning into Percy's side.

"Is this okay?" Nico asked quietly, assuming it was when he felt Percy's arm wrap around him. Percy also took the opportunity to use the top of Nico's head as his pillow. Nico didn't mind at all, and he felt he would be totally fine unless Percy fell asleep and he had to pry the boy off of him.

Thankfully, though, that did not happen.

At the end of the film, Percy stopped Nico right before he chose the next one, randomly once again. "Can I talk to you?"

"Of course," Nico halted what he was doing, "about what?"

"You," Percy said, simply and quietly.

"Okay," Nico said timidly, "Did I do something wrong?"

Percy quickly shot down Nico's idea, "No, no, not at all."

The younger boy nodded for Percy to continue, and the rather anxious teen complied as he kept speaking, "I really...I really do trust you a lot, Nico. You've done a lot of things for me that nobody else has ever bothered with, and I wouldn't be here right now if it weren't for you. But I...I'm so confused about all my emotions, and Grover suggested I just tell you that, but I feel like it's just more complicated than that."

Percy felt Nico's hand settle gently on his thigh, and he knew Nico was there for him, even if he wasn't aware of what Percy was trying to tell him. He didn't want to ruin that in the next few minutes, but simultaneously, he didn't want to have to conceal his feelings around everybody anymore. He wanted to open up.

Specifically to Nico di Angelo.

It was hard, though, when Percy risked the chance of losing one of the few people that really believed in him. He had said the night prior that he'd rather constantly suppress his feelings about Nico in order to not ruin anything, but Grover had strongly advised against that plan.

He wanted to stay positive and think about how, by some miracle of the gods, Nico maybe felt the same way. Maybe the brown-eyed boy was in the same situation, Percy could only hope.

"How do you tell someone something when you're too scared to even think about it in the first place?" Percy whispered, knowing there would not be a real answer.

Nico sighed sympathetically. "Percy, whatever you tell me is not going to change how much I trust and care about you, okay?"

"It'll definitely change something," Percy muttered incoherently. Nico didn't even bother trying to comprehend what he said, opting to shake his head instead.

Nico kindly urged Percy to get to the point, "Just tell me, Percy. I can handle it."

Percy's eyes rapidly flicked to Nico's lips before returning to his eyes. The younger boy didn't notice, too concerned about Percy's impending confession. "Can I just show you instead?"

"Um, yeah, go ahead," Nico nodded, highly confused about what Percy had meant. The boy really was a bit clueless at times.

Percy made eye contact with Nico, and the two sat there for a small moment. Then, finally deciding to just let fate decide what happens to him, Percy took his biggest risk of the night.

He leaned forward and connected their lips.

WHY CANT I WRITE CONVERSATIONS TO SAVE MY LIFE? LIKE THIS ISNT HOW PEOPLE TALK!

Unless you do talk like this. In that case, carry on because you're validating my trash writing.

Finally back on track with a plot. Also, did I finally hoist the sails for the ship?

You bet I did.

Have a good weekend y'all.