Hello my lovely people! This is my first story ever on this site so please be nice. Constructive criticism is cool, but no flames please!

Disclaimer: I wish I owned Percy Jackson, but I do not. These characters are his.

If You Wanted To

Nico POV

The after party was in full swing. They had finally done it. Gaea was defeated and the giant uprising had been stopped. A peace treaty had been written up between the Greeks and the Romans. Everything was finally over.

The Greeks had decided to throw a celebration party near the campfire at Camp Half-Blood. It was almost unsettling how easily the Greeks and the Romans seemed to be getting along now (except for Octavian, but honestly, what did you expect?).

Nico sat off to the side of the makeshift dance floor watching Percy and Annabeth, Jason and Piper, Hazel and Frank, and Leo and Calypso (Nico had heard about Leo's crash landing on Ogygia but still had no idea how Leo had managed to find it again) dance. Nico watched as Annabeth laughed at something Percy whispered in her ear and wrapped her arms around his neck. Nico smiled.

He was glad that he could look at Percy and Annabeth without feeling pain anymore. Nico had realized that his crush on Percy had really been more of an infatuation; he hadn't really ever been in love with Percy. Besides, Nico knew that his cousin was completely in love with Annabeth, and there was no way he would ever leave her.

On Nico's quest to return the Athena Parthenos, he had realized how much feelings could change. He had almost completely forgotten about Percy during the quest. Of course, Coach Hedge and Reyna yelling at each other was a bit of a distraction. Reyna. Nico smiled and looked over to the other side of the dance floor past all the dancing couples, near the buffet tables.

Reyna POV

Reyna scowled. She had never been much for parties, in general, but the most horrible thing had happened before the party: Piper had forced her into a dress. Reyna felt unnaturally girly; she both despised it and kind of loved it at the same time.

Reyna sat at one of the tables near the buffet table. Guys kept coming up to her and trying to get her to dance. Most of the conversations went like this:

"Hi, Reyna. Do you want to-"

"No."

"Wait, but you don't even know-"

"No."

Reyna sighed as she brushed off another guy she didn't even know. She couldn't find the one guy she actually wanted to talk to.

"Hey, Reyna."

"No."

"Wow, someone's in a good mood." Nico said, raising his eyebrows.

"Oh, hi, Nico," Reyna said, cracking a smile at the son of Hades. "Sorry, I didn't know it was you. Random guys have been trying to get me to dance all night. It's kind of an automatic response."

Reyna watched something similar to anger flash across Nico's face. Jealousy? But it was gone as soon as it had appeared.

"Nice dress," Nico said, changing the subject.

Reyna groaned. "Piper charmspoke me into wearing this dress all night. I can't take it off until midnight."

Nico laughed. Reyna smiled. It was a rare thing to see Nico laugh, but it was becoming more common. She remembered the dark, brooding boy she had initially met at Camp Jupiter. That boy barely talked, let alone smiled or laughed. But on their quest, she had seen a whole different side of him.

She learned about his past. She learned about his sister. She learned about his crush on Percy. He had trusted her. And she, in turn, had trusted him. She told him about her past, her sister, and her crush on Percy. They found that they had more in common than they thought.

Nico POV

Nico looked at Reyna. Her true smile was beautiful but rare. He was secretly kind of glad that most people didn't see her smile because it made him that much luckier.

"So, Reyna, how have things been going with Frank?" Nico asked.

"Really well, actually," Reyna replied. "He's definitely not the same Frank I remember from Camp Jupiter. He's a lot more confident now and is more of a leader."

"That's good."

"Yep."

They fell into an awkward silence.

"So, Reyna, are you going to sit at this table all night?" Nico asked slightly nervous. He wanted to ask Reyna to dance but wasn't really sure how to.

"I don't know, why?" Reyna asked.

"Well, um, I was wondering, if, you know, you maybe wanted to, um..." Nico stuttered.

Reyna POV

Reyna suppressed a smile. Nico was trying to ask her to dance. He looked up and saw that she had understood his message. But she wasn't going to make this easy for him.

"If I wanted to what, Nico?" Reyna asked innocently.

Nico glared at her. Reyna smirked.

"I was wondering if you maybe wanted to dance with me." Nico blurted out hurriedly.

Reyna smiled and pretended to think. "Hm, I don't know," she said slyly.

Nico's face fell. "Oh, it's okay; it was a stupid question…"

Reyna realized that he had taken her seriously. "Nico! I'm just kidding. I'd love to dance with you."

Nico's smile returned, and his shoulders relaxed. He stood up, straightened his shirt, and extended his hand. Reyna stood, smoothed her dress and accepted Nico's hand.

Nico, almost shyly, lead her onto the dance floor. She heard the whispers immediately. She knew that people would be talking about this for a while. Reyna, praetor of New Rome, turned down every guy, except for one. And he just happened to be Greek. But for once in her life, she didn't care about her reputation as praetor. She had just fought in a war against the giants, and she deserved a break from all that.

Nico POV

Nico was nervous. His palms were sweaty. He hoped Reyna wouldn't notice or at least wouldn't mention it.

Nico finally lead Reyna to an open spot on the dance floor. Just his luck, the DJs (the freaking Stoll brothers) started playing a slow song. Nico turned his head to glare at them. Connor and Travis both grinned and gave him a thumbs up.

Nico turned his head back to Reyna. She smiled at him. Nico hesitantly started putting his arms around her waist. Reyna rolled her eyes and pulled him closer. She then put her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder (he may have been 2 years younger than her but he was a good 2 inches taller). Nico blushed as they began to sway to the music.

Nico hadn't had physical contact for this long since his sister died (she would always give him long hugs). He was always afraid that it would bring back painful memories. He had gotten over his sister's death, but that didn't mean it still didn't hurt.

But Nico didn't feel the pain he expected. He felt something completely different. He held Reyna tighter.

He saw Percy with his arms around Annabeth. Percy raised an eyebrow and smirked at Nico. Nico mouthed: shut up.

Reyna POV

Reyna felt Nico's mouth move. She took her head off his shoulder and found herself staring into Nico's intense brown eyes. She was hypnotized. She had never been this close to anyone before, except for maybe her sister. Before she knew what she was doing, she leaned forward and placed her lips on his.

Nico didn't respond for a good five seconds. Reyna was about to pull away and mentally slap herself for doing something so stupid when he started kissing her back.

It was exactly how she had imagined her first kiss, and yet it wasn't. She felt the sparks, the electricity that she expected. But she also felt a fire that she hadn't. The kiss was intense and slow. Reyna moved her hands upwards and entangled them in Nico's hair, deepening the kiss. Nico held her even tighter.

Unfortunately, there was a need for oxygen. Reyna and Nico pulled away, breathing heavily. Reyna was grinning larger than she ever had.

Piper POV

Piper stood next to her boyfriend with her hand on her heart, watching the new couple grin wildly at each other. Jason was looking at Nico and Reyna with his jaw dropped.

"Aw, they're so cute," Piper cooed.

"Piper, your Aphrodite is showing."

"Shut up, Leo."