Short Fanfiction

Nico + Aleks

First date

Nico sat quietly in the soft white sofa seat. He clutched his hands tightly, staring down at his lap. As much as he hated to admit, Nico was nervous. Extremely nervous. He had planned this moment out in his head so many times before, but nothing could ever prepare him for the present. Nothing ever had.

That morning, he spent close to an hour standing in front of the bathroom mirror staring at himself. He sighed. "It's just a date, Nico. Just a stupid date. No need to get all worked up about it." He tried to convince himself, but it didn't work, because there was indeed a reason to get worked up.

Every time he went out to the café on his break, he sat in the same seat, by the same window after ordering the same thing. This went on for weeks until the dashing young man behind the counter began to memorize his orders.

"A salted caramel mocha with soy milk and twice the amount of whipped cream, right?"

Nico's head jerked up at the sound of a man's voice. He had been so busy trying to grab his wallet that he hadn't noticed he was now at the front of the line. The handsome young cashier smiled at him. The nametag on his shirt stated his name was Aleks, as it always did. Nico frantically nodded at him, affirming that he got his order right, and proceeded to pay. Aleks, the cashier, shook his head.

"It's on me this time," he smirked, blushing slightly, "as long as you wait for me to get off work. My shift ends in a few minutes." Out of the corner of his eye, Nico saw a herd of girls huffing angrily. Apparently he doesn't ask just anyone out, Nico thought to himself.

He addressed Aleks sheepishly. "Yeah, sure. I sit over there by the window."

The young man beamed. "I know where you sit, you're here every day." He stated, and began having the others make his drink. Nico hesitated before making his way over to his seat. Waiting for his drink, he found himself staring at the gorgeous cashier, just like he did every other day.

His hair is lighter today, I wonder if he dyed it. It looks nice. Nico glanced over at yet another giggling gaggle of girls. They were glancing over at Aleks too, before turning back to each other and tittering quietly. "What if he dyed it for a girl? One of them, maybe? The girl with the blonde looks like someone he'd like…"

"She looks like someone who'd like?"

Nico jumped straight out of his chair and turned to the person who had spoken to him. "What in the mother of Hades?" Nico protested, repeating only something one of his sisters would say. "Don't sneak up on me like that! You scared the hell out of me!"

Aleks chuckled. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." he apologized, holding out a sea green coffee mug. "I have your mocha." He put the cup down then sat in the chair across from Nico's. Nico followed suit, still angry with the object of his hidden affection.

Aleks cocked his head slightly, leaning forward. "You aren't mad at me, are you?" He asked, his lips stretched into a small pout. Nico felt his face heat up with a crimson blush. He shook his head so his voice wouldn't give his embarrassment away. He was pretty sure if he opened his mouth no sound would come out.

Nico couldn't help but gaze at the young man across from him. He was stunning, and something about him told Nico that Aleks knew just how gorgeous he was. Aleks was lean, tall, tan, and from what Nico could tell, somewhat muscular. Aleks' (now light) brown hair, spiked up as it usually was, always framed his face perfectly. What if he wore his hair normally? What would that look like? Nico wondered.

"What could you be thinking about?" Aleks asked softly, his clear blue eyes searching Nico's dark ones.

"Your hair's lighter today than it was yesterday." Nico blurted out.

Aleks blinked then began to laugh. "Funny story, that is. My older sister decided to pour lemon juice in my hair and stick me out in the sun to dry. Said my hair looked too much like chocolate and it tempted her." He sighed and placed his chin in his palm. "Stupid girl counts calories. I don't get it, why would anyone need to do that in the first place? I guess you would except as much from an Aphrodite girl."

Nico, who began to drink his mocha, almost had it spew out of his nose. He quickly jerked his head up, whipped cream all over his nose, chin, and cheeks. Aleks shook his head and pulled out a napkin from the napkin dispenser. He leaned forward, wiping all of the cream off of Nico's face. "Geez, did I say something to get you all riled up? You're so silly."

Nico sat back and let the young man across from him help him out. He couldn't believe that a guy like Aleks would be a demi-god. Now that he thought about it, Nico always seemed to sense something was "off" about Aleks. There was some sort of aura that surrounded him. Some sort of old aura that seemed so familiar…

"Hey, Nico, how we go on a real date tomorrow? That way I can make all this awkwardness up." Aleks smiled as he said this, and Nico couldn't possibly say no.

That's what brought the teen to sit all alone in a corner of the pizza parlor where they agreed to meet. He got there early so he wouldn't miss this day. Not only did he want it to be perfect, he also had many things that he wanted to ask his date about. The list, of course, started with his knowledge of demi-gods, monsters, and his past life. He knew now, what that strange aura was, and he intended on finding out more about Aleks and his life.

But that would all have to wait. By the time Nico glanced up to see the young man strolling towards him beaming and appearing as stunning as ever, he forgot everything he ever wanted to say. Right now all he wanted was to sit with Aleks and stay that way forever.

That would hopefully be the first real date of many.