Summary: They may not be blessed with happy beginnings, but happy endings work fine, too.
Jason loved spending lazy afternoons looking over San Francisco. When days were long and tiring, he would fly to a high-rise building and just watch the mortals beneath all day, sometimes alone or with Nico. Jason had learned that Nico used to do this too, back when the son of Hades was young and hurt from the loss of his sister. In a way, watching mortals line up in coffee shops or sit and wait in heavy traffic was their way of living the mortal side of their lives, robbed by the gods, the quests, and the responsibilities of being a demigod, a hero.
Nowadays, Jason would rather stay with Nico in their shared apartment, cuddling or making-out until they get drowsy enough for an afternoon siesta. In these lazy afternoons, Nico would be sprawled on the couch, mindlessly watching some random program in Hephaestus TV. He would leave enough space for Jason to climb on top of him and plant kisses on his neck. Gods, Nico's neck. Nico's skin may get clammy and sweaty at hot afternoons, but it was always soft and smooth against Jason's lips. Jason would always leave marks and kisses here and there, even so far as drawing his initials on the skin with his teeth.
These lazy afternoons always brought up Nico's playful side. Jason eventually learned from his previous dates with Nico that the son of Hades loved playing hard to get. Hazel once explained that it was a 1930's thing, when girls would wait by the sides for a boy to ask them for a dance. Jason had to admit that courting Nico was not easy; after all, it required a lot of patience, understanding, and the almost-apocalypse to earn Nico's friendship alone. But, once Jason had learned the steps of this complex courtship dance, Nico came into his arms like a moth to a flame.
Nico's breath hitched when Jason leaned to suck the spot behind his right ear, hands wandering beneath his lover's shirt. Jason traced the thin scars on his waist and the shape of his ribs at his sides before swirling the soft nipple with his thumb. He could tell Nico appreciated the gesture; Nico had fully abandoned the TV now to focus on Jason. The son of Hades smiled as he wrapped his long, slender limbs around Jason before pulling the son of Jupiter into a kiss.
Now, it was Jason's turn to moan. Jason adored Nico's kisses, loved they were dirty and sloppy and full of human need. Nico always brought up Jason's human desires - an apartment, a pet dog, a child, a husband. Jason may not have remembered his past memories, but he knew he always wanted to be just human. Being with Nico just made that desire grow stronger. Nico's fingers eventually went under Jason's shirt, and Jason responded by pulling Nico closer.
But then Jason felt Nico's fingers froze over Jason's chest, and their moment was shattered. On the spot where his heart used to be was a hole, big enough for a coin to pass through. Nico's eyes were now fixated to it like he was seeing the remnants of an accident for the first time. Jason mused that Nico probably was, given that Nico had the ability to watch a person's last moments.
"Hey, look at me?" Jason called, cupping Nico's cheeks so the son of Hades could look at Jason. The son of Jupiter didn't want to think of that day when he wanted to cry and scream and plead for that spear to dislodge from his heart and the shadows to stop pulling his soul to the Underworld. "I'm here, alright? I'm not going anywhere."
Nico looked at him with his big, brown eyes, and Jason gasped. Nico was so beautiful, so undaunted, and so powerful that Jason wondered how Nico ended up here, still in his tacky skull shirt and baggy pants that he's supposed to grow into. Nico still refused to share the story, but Jason would accidentally brush his lips on the slit at the base of Nico's neck during their make-out sessions.
"I know," Nico whispered, moving his hand away from Jason's chest and onto Jason's hand on his cheek. "I just forget sometimes."
Jason pressed a chaste kiss on Nico's forehead. "It's fine. We all do."
In these peaceful afternoons, it was so easy to forget that both of them were no longer had heartbeats or pulses. But, it didn't matter, shouldn't matter. Because, here, in the apartment of their dreams, there are no gods, no quests, no monsters, no heroes. Just the two of them in a stupidly domesticated, mortal (after)life.
Author's note: I may not have read Book 3 of TOA yet, but damn it someone fix it (and make Jasico endgame please!)
