notes: wow, i haven't written in a million years. crossposted to ao3, but my ffn's been so dead i felt bad for not posting it. first ever pjo fic, so, y'know. i may have some iffy characterization, but hopefully i have it mostly nailed.
alternately titled "jason grace is a big dork"
There are a couple of things Jason's expecting when he knocks on Percy's door at 7:24 PM on a Friday - namely, you know, Percy, or perhaps Annabeth, considering it's kind of Percy's house. He considers the possibility of their two-year-old answering the door, but Annabeth would probably object to that considering she can't reach the peephole unless she's riding on someone's shoulders.
On that note, though, his expectations are kind of met.
"Are you going to stand there and stare, or did you actually need something?" Nico looks impressively bored, for someone with a toddler riding on his shoulders, trying to eat his hair.
"Uh," Jason replies. He's smooth. "I was looking for Percy."
"I gathered that." He doesn't even wince when Percy's daughter yanks on his hair so hard that it tilts his head to the side. Nico di Angelo could probably kick anyone's ass at poker. "He and Annabeth went out; I'm babysitting."
Jason isn't really sure what he's supposed to say to that, so he just goes with, "Cool." He supposes that what he came here for wasn't that important, since he'd really just wanted to hang around a friend and Leo was busy, so he should probably leave. He doesn't do that. "I just wanted to see if he was free."
Nico raises one eyebrow, slightly enough that Jason almost misses it, but then rolls his eyes and steps back. "Just get in the house, Jason."
He does do this, and the toddler riding on Nico's shoulders, curiously polite through the entire conversation, grins at him in the way that only toddlers can and, wow, is that his heart melting right out of his chest? Pretty much. She's cute, even though that kind of face tends to bode misfortune when it's on a toddler.
"Hey, Charlie, wanna chew on Jason's hair instead?" Nico asks, voice so casual that Jason doesn't think to protest until she's already giggling with delight to show her enthusiasm for the idea, and by that point why would he protest anyway? Cute children are welcome to eat his hair any time, probably.
At least, that's what Jason thinks until Charlie is in fact on his shoulders, gnawing on his hair - which is a lot shorter than Nico's, so it's a bit more difficult, probably - oh, wow, that's drool dripping down the side of his neck. Nico looks like he wants to laugh when Jason shoots him a pleading look.
"Help," he says, and the only reply he gets is a snort. Charlie leans over his head and blinks big eyes at him.
"Wassong?" She tries to tack his name onto the end, too, a long and drawn-out jaaaaaaay being all she can manage before she gives up.
His heart's melting again. Damn it.
"Nooooooothing," he replies, and so what if he sing-songs it, a little? Nico is snickering from two couch cushions over and Jason thinks he should be embarrassed, but Charlie is really, really cute. "Is hair very appetizing?"
"Why don't you try it," Nico suggests, a mocking note in his voice as he flicks through channels on the TV, and Jason stares at him for a second in some weird mixture of humor and confusion. Charlie takes advantage of the pause to give up on trying to answer the question in favor of knotting her fingers in his hair and pretending she's riding an airplane. He thinks she'd probably squeal with glee if he actually flew around with her, but he also thinks Annabeth might kill him.
"Because the only hair presently available is yours, and I'm pretty sure neither of us wants my drool dripping into your ears," he finally points out, rather prudently, he thinks.
Wow. Nico might kill him, too. "Point conceded," he replies evenly, shooting Jason a Look, the kind that used to give Leo the freaky-deakies. Jason's about to reply with another of his shiningly witty statements when Charlie interrupts by wiggling her way off of his shoulders, landing face-first on the couch cushion. Jason, in the middle of forming a sentence, stares down in open-mouthed shock.
Nico is still giving him the Look. Jason considers the pros vs. the cons of fleeing the house for his personal safety.
Thankfully, it seems Charlie knew exactly what she was doing, because she's wiggling away across the couch towards Nico like a cute toddler caterpillar, and when she gets there she gives him a winning, tooth-missing smile. "Nico," she says simply, holding her arms up in the way that only demanding children get away with.
Jason wishes he had a camera to capture the sight of Nico rolling his eyes with a smile as he places a toddler upon his shoulders. "It seems you lucked out, Grace," he says. "My hair is evidently better than yours."
He laughs, and Nico's snickering again while Charlie grabs fistfuls of his hair and pulls them into little ponytails with her hands, and then Jason goes to scratch an itch behind his ear and his hand comes away covered in toddler drool and he laughs even harder.
"You think Percy and Annabeth would mind if I washed my hair in the sink?"