Work Text:
‘He must’ve stolen some of Dakota’s kool-aid’ was Jason first thought. Because there was no other possible explanation for the son of Hades’ behaviour. The usually gloomy teen was hanging upside down in a tree when Jason found him.
“Hey Nico, what’s up?”
The teen who had previously looked quite a bit bored instantly shone up, a grin replacing his frown. If there had been any uncertainty in Jason it was now successfully erased; Nico rarely smiled and he definitely never grinned.
“Nothing much, just hanging” Nico laughed at his own joke and Jason was thoroughly confused. He was used to trying to cheer up Nico and didn’t know how to deal this. He wasn’t really sure of what to do but decided it was probably best to keep the younger talking.
“You seem very uhm, happy?”
“Gods Jason, I’m not a permanently depressed or anything. Contrary to your beliefs I can actually be happy sometimes, it’s not impossible”
Jason didn’t really know how to respond to that so he didn’t.
“So you haven’t drunken anything other than your usual water?” Jason asked cautiously since it seemed like Nico was, well drunk.
“Well now that you ask, I might’ve borrowed Dakota’s water bottle without him knowing and its content might have tasted kind of funny” Nico admitted a little embarrassed.
Jason shook his head and laughed slightly, at least now he knew what was wrong and it wasn’t actually that terrible. Sure it might not be completely natural but the son of Hades wasn’t brooding and Jason might finally get hang out with the guy (no pun intended). Jason decided that it was definitely time to get to know Nico di Angelo better starting with a game-night. The thought of Nico’s reaction once the rush was over passed his mind but he forced it away.
“Well then Nico, since you’re apparently not brooding tonight I would like to formally invite you to the Zeus cabin for a game-night” Jason said with a mock-serious face.
“Hmm sounds interesting but I get to choose game, deal?" Nico extended his hand for Jason to shake.
"Deal" Jason said with a grin. Jason hadn't noticed the shadows creeping closer to the pair but as soon as the words left his mouth the shadows engulfed them.
Jason didn't know what he had expected Nico to choose but it definitely wasn't golf on wii sports resort. Maybe that's the reason he liked Nico so much, every day he learned something new about the boy that set him apart from the rest. One of the best surprises had been that Nico, very befittingly, had the voice of an angel. When Jason told Nico this he simply said 'That must mean you're my saving grace' in a dry voice making Jason laugh for a full five minutes.
Said boy was now turning back to Jason with a smug smile on his lips.
"Maybe you should call Percy 'cause you need a way to turn this tide, Golden Boy" he said. Jason's only reply was to stick his tongue out at Nico who merely snorted. They were on their fifteenth course and Nico was absolutely destroying Jason. But on the plus side Jason suspected the effect of Dakota's kool-aid wore off around course eight and hadn't tried to shadowtravel out of game-night yet. So even though Jason was losing big-time he was happy because Nico seemed to be enjoying himself and that was all that mattered.
When it was Jason's turn he hit so badly that he got out of bounds five times. Jason was furious but just as he was about to give the TV an electrical shock Nico interrupted him.
"Giving the TV an electrical shock won't make you suck any less."
"Ouch Nico, that hurt. I thought you were my friend." Jason said with feigned hurt. 'Just a friend' added Jason's mind bitterly. It had begun so innocently, after Croatia Jason had decided that the younger demigod needed someone who was there for him and wanted to help. That was the beginning but Nico-time quickly became Jason's favourite part of the day. When he realised that he'd rather spend time with Nico than with Piper he broke up with her. She had been hurt but not angry which Jason was very thankful for and even though he hadn't told her about Nico she said ‘I would never have believed that it would be di Angelo that stole my boyfriend’ and walking off before he could form a reply. But Jason never dared to tell Nico about his feelings and Nico never figured it out ‘cause he was just as oblivious as Percy if not even more so. So Jason acted as though every rejection didn’t feel like a knife to the heart.
“Grace, if you wanted a friend to play with you, you should’ve asked Repair Boy and not me” Nico said with a snort.
“But Leo isn’t as huggable as you” apparently ‘happy’ Nico didn’t mind touching something Jason had taken full advantage of and Nico hadn’t protested yet.
“I know you and Mclean broke up and that you might be feeling lonely but I’m not your girlfriend so stop hugging every freaking minute!” Nico half-screamed. Okay, so maybe he did actually mind being hugged but Jason couldn’t really help it, the boy was just too adorable for his own good.
“No, of course you’re not, you’re a boy not a girl” Jason answered.
“That’s not the point. You don’t care for me that way and you don’t get to toy with my emotions” the poor boy looked like he was about to have a panic attack and Jason cursed himself.
“I think that I know better than you just how I care for you” Jason said knowing that he just messed up the friendship he’d worked so hard for.
“You’re as straight as the horizon Grace” Nico said looking more pissed off than Jason had ever seen him.
“Someone must have forgotten to tell me that” Jason answered bitterly. He knew that this was going to end badly but there was nothing he could do to stop it.
“You dated Mclean for Olympus sake and it’s not like you not being straight would change anything so just leave me alone” Nico said looking defeated. Jason had a feeling he was missing something but he couldn’t stop now.
“Why? You’ve had a crush on Percy since forever so why does my sexuality bother you so much?” Jason prepared himself for the brutal rejection that he was sure would be Nico’s reaction but it never came. A little too late he realised his mistake and was just about to apologise for mentioning Percy when he realised that Nico hadn’t flinched the way he usually would when someone mentioned the son of Poseidon. Maybe Nico was actually starting to get over Percy he thought happily before he realised that he still had destroyed any chance he might have had with the Ghost King.
Nico seemed to consider what Jason had said for a while, trying to piece together a response giving a little sigh.
“I don’t feel that way about Percy anymore and I haven’t for a while. If you haven’t noticed I can now actually talk with both Percy and Annabeth and I don’t hide from all their couple-y behaviour anymore.” Jason had noticed and was about to say as much when Nico continued.
“You not being straight bothers me because it’s one thing to have a crush on straight oblivious idiots who have a girlfriend that they love more than anything else and a completely different thing to have a crush on apparently non-straight single guys who tries to spend all their waken time with you and smothers you with affection even though you repeatedly tell them not to” Nico said.
“Bu- but you like Percy” Jason said gobsmacked. He realised that was probably sporting a quite impressive impression of a goldfish but his mouth just wouldn’t close itself.
“No, I don’t anymore” Nico replied patiently.
Jason didn’t know how to say all the things he wanted to tell Nico so when he realised that other boy was about to shadowtravel away he did the only thing he could think of, he hugged him again.
“Uhm Jason I don’t know which part of all this that you didn’t understand but please no more hugs. They don’t mean the same thing to me as they do to you so it’s kind of painful” Nico said looking extremely uncomfortable and a little embarrassed.
“But they do” Jason said with a happy laugh.
Nico looked at him like if he had lost his mind so he continued trying to explain himself to Nico without scaring away the younger teen.
“Why do you think I do all those things? You don’t see me trying to hug Leo or Percy all the time. Why do you think I broke up with Piper and why do you think she always says all the suggestive comments when she sees us together?” Jason asked willing Nico to understand.
“I always figured that it was her of getting back at you for breaking up with her, that she was imagining a relationship out of my crush” Nico said looking rather shocked.
“Her response when I broke up with her was to say that she would’ve never believed that you would steal her boyfriend so if she was trying to get back at me it would’ve probably been by not telling me about your feelings but I doubt that she ever knew about them” Jason said.
“But why didn’t you ever say anything? Why didn’t you tell me?” Nico asked still seemingly a bit sceptical.
Jason shrugged.
“I knew that you needed a friend and thought that you still had a crush on Percy so didn’t want to drive you away. I like you but as a friend I would never tell you if I thought that it would make you unhappy because you deserve all the love in the world Nico” Jason said with a small smile.
Nico whose face had changed expression several times during Jason’s confession now looked a little unsure of himself.
“Would you mind if I kissed you?” he asked without meeting Jason’s eyes.
Jason grinned, he had been dreaming about this for months. Instead of answering Nico’s question he strode forward placing a hand on the other boy’s cheek. His heart felt like it was about to burst when he saw the way Nico’s dark eyes lit up. Nico closed the distance between them and the feeling of Nico’s soft lips on Jason’s was driving him crazy. He wanted more; he wanted all of Nico but was afraid to scare him away so Jason settled for carefully deepening the kiss. Nico was clearly inexperienced but Jason didn’t mind. When Nico’s tongue brushed against Jason’s lip accidently Jason couldn’t the stop the moan that had been building up inside of him from slipping out. Nico immediately tensed up but when he realised that Jason wasn’t going to try to take it further than he was willing to go he relaxed again. They had somehow ended up on the bed so when Jason put his arms around Nico and laid them down on the bed the younger tensed up again. Jason broke the kiss.
“Relax I’m not gonna hurt you. I know that you’re not ready for that yet” Jason murmured into the other boy’s hair.
“Sorry, it’s just. I’m not-“
“Used to this. It’s okay, I understand. You’re from the forties and homosexuality wasn’t accepted then but I’m not trying to get in to your pants right now, I just wanna cuddle you while I sleep.” He said whilst carefully spooning the other boy.
Nico seemed to go over Jason’s statement in his head a few times before settling in Jason’s embrace.
“Goodnight Jason”
“Goodnight Nico” he replied and kissing the other boy’s head.
They could finish the game some other time Jason thought before falling asleep with the object of his affections in his arms.