1, Illecebrous.

Illecebrous (adj.) alluring, attractive, enticing.

…

When Nico told Percy that he was over him and that was just an ideal hero crush, he meant it.

Percy was surprised. He thought about the other's feeling toward him in so many ways, but it was definitely not that way.

It happened anyway, though. All the crush, the confession, and the rejection. Well, Nico di Angelo was the first one and maybe one of the very few people Percy knew that could turn a confession into a rejection immediately after he just confessed his feeling. Saying Percy was unexpected was still putting it mildly. He was speechless.

And latter, he was angry.

What did Nico mean when he said: "You're cute, but you're not my type?". What was his type anyway?

Subconsciously, Percy started to pay attention to the younger demigod. It was purely curiosity, he told himself. Percy just wanted to know what's Nico di Angelo's type, that's all.

The progress to know Nico's type involved knowing Nico more, too.

And to be honest, Percy developed a feeling that he liked what he saw.

When he first met Nico, the other was still a ten years old kid. So innocent, so naïve, and yet so annoying. Just at the third or fourth question he asked Percy and the older demigod was more than ready to feed him to the wolves or some monsters instead of hearing one more thing escaped from his mouth.

It was a bubble of guilt burst into Percy's stomach when he thought about that chatterbox kid. He wasn't here anymore. The brood, moody and melancholic demigod named Nico di Angelo whose life was destroyed by Percy since he was ten. Too young to have a traumatic life, to lose all of his family and have almost no friends at all. The son of Poseidon was kind of scared when he found out Nico spent more time with the death than the living since he was eleven. The kid did absolutely nothing to deserve that destiny and it happened anyway.

But now… at least Percy could be a little less guilty because Nico had a lot of friends now, another sister, a surrogate sister and also the scariest girl Percy has ever met, a close friend with blond hair and blue eyes and sometimes the son of Jupiter could be annoying and overprotective as hell when it came to a certain son of Hades, but Percy was thankful for it because he felt he didn't deserve the role of Nico's big brother as much as Jason.

And a son of Apollo was paying more than just friendly attention to Nico, too. Sandy blond hair, tanned skin, and blue blue blue eyes – Percy started to wonder what's that Nico's type? Blond and blue eyes? Both Jason and Will were more than gifted in the appearance department. Not that Percy envied them because he knew he's handsome as well, but it was still something he needed to understand.

So why did Annabeth wasn't Nico's type? She was blonde. Ah no, her eyes were stormy grey. And well, Nico's gay, he told himself. You're sure an idiot.

No, this was definitely not his subconscious mind saying. It sounded more like Jason or Leo and when the hell these other demigods could be his voice of reason?

That was bad. Percy needed to stop thinking for a while.

Nico was growing up.

Percy wasn't the first one to notice it, but at least half of the camp did a good job of not-so-subtle checking him out, so Percy of course knew it.

And damn, that kid was cute once, but now "cute" wasn't a suitable word to describe the son of Hades anymore, even though he was still adorable in a somewhat terrifying way.

No, Nico was attractive and hot as hell.

Not Percy's words, but he secretly agreed with it. Puberty did nothing but favours to Nico. The younger demigod was still shorter than Percy – maybe he hadn't reached the growth spurt yet, or maybe he was just short – but his features were slowly changing. He lost his baby fat and now his face was more masculine and handsome – and still soft and feminine and beautiful in an angelic way. He had high cheekbones, a defined jawline, and a well-sculptured nose. And don't let Percy start about his eyes. Those eyes were the most captivating features of the son of Hades. They're dark chocolate brown, but the brownish black was so deep and piercing and they looked like bottomless abysses that can capture other's soul.

Percy made his first mistake when he stared at Nico's eyes for too long, and he felt like he had lost into those eyes.

…

The second mistake happened in Arena.

Nico and Jason were sparring and a crowd of campers gathered around them, watching the match with intense concentration and enthusiastic interest. They were even cheering and shouting something that Percy found suspiciously like "Take off your shirt, dudes!".

Jason did as they wish, and the crowd only cheered louder. Percy whistled, Jason's body was a statuesque figure crafted by the god or goddess of fitness. His muscles were defined and very eye-catching. He was strong-built and he was almost double Nico's body size. It was a surprise that the other demigod could keep up their fight that long and sometimes put Jason in a dangerous situation.

Jason counter-attacked the newest scratch on his chest by cornering Nico and tearing his shirt off.

"Hey!" Nico shouted angrily, he wasn't a fan of public nudity anyway. But for Percy and the other campers' surprise, his body wasn't as heavy-built as Jason's, but it was lithe and swift in movements. It was toned in all right places and the healthy olive complexion was a certain bonus. "You're so dead, Jason!"

"Make me." Jason winked at Nico and avoided the swing of his wooden sword. They both agreed to not use their real weapon since Nico's Stygian Iron sword was deadly dangerous, so the worst wound they could give each other was just a bruise.

Percy didn't pay much attention to the match anymore. His concentration was focused on Nico's body, and honestly, Percy really liked what he saw. He wondered if it felt good running his fingers on the other's skin, touching his strong muscles and biting his neck…

Wait a minute. The neck-biting part was definitely a little bit too far. Percy jolted and he found out he was having the most inappropriate and unexpected boner now. Imagining the way Nico was lying underneath him and moaning with his flustered skin and shirtless and maybe all naked wasn't doing him any favor at all.

Shit. Percy needed to go back to his Cabin right now or things would be really awkward.

…

After the incident in the Arena, Percy found it's hard to look straight at Nico's eyes. And he felt a little bit guilty with Annabeth, but she was still as wonderful as ever and when he told her that he was checking both Jason and Nico out, she just rolled her eyes and called him an idiot, and told him that his sexual awakening maybe a little bit confusing and maybe his sexual tension was something else too, but honestly he couldn't care that much because he wasn't a genius like her.

But it didn't need to be a genius to figure out that he was paying Nico more attention than he should. And that couldn't end well because Nico did say Percy wasn't his type and he couldn't be foolish enough to like him again.

So, what was his type anyway? This was the forgotten original question that Percy was desperately in the need of an answer.