Title: Collaboration
Pairings: Jasico, Perleo, and Reynabeth
Rating: This chapter is SFW. It will be rated M in future chapters.
Summary: Nico had decided to make songwriting his number one priority. He was doing this collaboration for the sake of Greeks & Romance. Nico didn't want to let Leo and Percy down. Jason Grace would have to be a lesser priority.
But he'll be damned if he can't get Jason to like him in the days to come.
(Musician AU with song lyrics, coupled with a Celebrity AU where they find out people make fics about them, some PercyXLeo and ReynaXAnnabeth thrown into the mix)
A/N1: Yes the band name is a pun.
A/N2: Special thanks to tumblr user terratractatori for helping me decide on a theme to work with.
A/N3: This is actually the AU my Jasico V-day Event fic recipient's request will be based on. The actual fic for my assigned person will be released on Valentine's Day. This is not the V-day event fic. (you can treat it as part of the V-day event fic though)
Part 1
"We're here for the collaboration," the sullen teenager said before Jason could open his mouth.
He had black hair that fell to an inch above his shoulders, dark bags under his even darker eyes, a worn black skull shirt, ripped jeans, black boots, and what seemed like a permanent scowl on his face. He carried a heavy-looking guitar case in one hand and a large suitcase in the other. There were three other people with him at Jason's doorstep.
Beside the one who had spoken was a tall and stately woman in a white blouse, pencil skirt and gold-embellished ballet flats. She had hard grey eyes and blonde hair tied into a neat ponytail. The woman reminded Jason of his own manager.
The two other people with them were quietly looking at Jason, expecting him to say something or at least let them in. One of the two, a tall sea-green-eyed guy with flip-flops, boardshorts and a blue tank top on, also carried a guitar case and a suitcase. The other, a short wiry-haired Latino in cargo shorts, a plain white shirt and worn dirty sneakers, had drumsticks in one hand and a large backpack strapped securely to his back.
"A collaboration?" Jason asked, bewildered. These people certainly looked like they play in a band, but Jason didn't remember having any meetups scheduled for him today. Especially one that would take place in his own home.
"A collaboration," the teenager echoed dully, as if it were a simple fact that Jason should have known.
And Jason probably should have known. He needed to ask his manager about this immediately. It wasn't like Reyna to forget to tell him about work-related things.[[MORE]]
"Jason, let them in," Reyna called out from upstairs. Jason could hear the faint echo of Reyna's black pumps click-clacking unhurriedly down the marble steps of his seaside bachelor pad.
Jason stepped aside, giving them room into enter.
Jason was confused. How long would they be staying at his place? He didn't even know these people.
The guy with sea-green eyes gave an appreciative whistle as he took in his surroundings. "Sweet crib," the guy said, glancing outside the window where there was a good view of the beach and the large expanse of sea.
Jason smiled at this. He was very much proud of his home. "Thank you," he said.
Jason Grace was definitely better-looking in person, even in just a muscle shirt, sweatpants and no shoes.
Nico di Angelo, the frontman, vocalist and bassist of the alternative rock band Greeks & Romance, smiled inwardly.
Nico was glad for the opportunity to work with the blond electric-blue-eyed R&B singer, and he had Jason's manager and Annabeth to thank for.
All he wanted for the past week was to see Jason in the flesh. And he got his wish.
But judging from the confused look on Jason's face and the way he was underdressed, he hadn't been expecting them to come.
Jason led them to the living room, where a woman wearing dark slacks, a blazer over her solid purple top, and simple gold hoop earrings with her long dark hair in a neat braid draped over her shoulder sat in a tall backed chair. Nico heard Annabeth suck in a breath quietly beside him. That woman must have been Reyna, then. Nico has never seen Annabeth react this way to anyone before.
Nico knew Annabeth had a girlfriend named Reyna who was also a talent manager but for a different client. But Nico has never seen the elusive girlfriend until now.
"You can put your instruments down, boys." Annabeth whispered to them. They complied, setting their instruments down gently on the carpeted floor while Leo stuffed his sticks into his front pocket.
Jason walked up to the side of the tall backed chair and bent down to whisper something in the woman's ear. But she held up her hand and said his name in a commanding tone. The blond quieted immediately and stood up straight with his hands behind his back, like a soldier awaiting orders. Jason kept his eyes trained on her.
"Thank you all for coming. I'm Reyna, Jason's manager," Reyna said, standing from her seat and approaching the group. She stretched her hand out to Nico, and he shook it firmly with his free hand. Reyna did the same to Percy, then to Leo, and, finally, to Annabeth. Her gaze lingered on Annabeth's face almost lovingly as she held onto their manager's hand. Annabeth smiled back at her with an equal measure of tenderness.
"Annabeth Chase," she introduced herself, more for Jason's benefit than Reyna's.
After reluctantly letting go of Reyna's hand, Annabeth gave Jason a polite smile as she gestured to the band members. "Jason Grace, I'd like you to meet my clients. Leo Valdez, the drummer."
"Hey," the Latino greeted Jason, giving the blond an impish grin.
"Perseus Jackson, the lead guitarist," Annabeth continued.
"Call me Percy," he said, smiling widely.
"And Nico di Angelo, the vocalist and bassist. He's also the frontman of Greeks & Romance."
Nico gave Jason a small smile and a nod of the head.
"The four of you will be working together to create a new song," Annabeth said. "This will be beneficial for both parties. Your ratings will go up, your popularity will rise, and your fanbase would increase."
"That's only if they come up with an excellent song." Reyna mused, crossing her arms over her chest.
"There is no definite deadline, but it'd be best to do it before Greeks & Romance's first live concert in September. That's about two months. The three of you aren't exempted from practice or scheduled gigs." Annabeth addressed her clients.
"The same goes for you, Jason," Reyna told him. "You still have dance rehearsals and photo shoots to attend, so make the most out of the time you have with them. They'll be staying here in your house until the song has been composed and recorded."
It was only then that Jason's features softened and he gave them a warm smile. He approached Nico with his hand outstretched, like Reyna had done. Nico took his hand and shook it, noting that it was a little sweaty but pleasantly warm. When he looked up at Jason's face, there was a shine in those electric blue eyes that sent shivers down Nico's spine.
"I look forward to working with all of you," Jason said. The tall blond shook Percy's hand, then Leo's, then Annabeth's.
"Show them to their rooms, Jason. Dinner's at 7:30," Reyna said. "Annabeth and I will get takeouts. In the meantime, you boys can take the time to get to know each other."
They trailed behind Jason up the marble steps and down a carpeted hallway with two doors on each side. At the end of the hallway, there was a brightly lit glass display case with a security camera monitoring it. Inside the case was a golden electric guitar.
She's beautiful, Nico thought to himself.
He gazed longingly at the gold-plated electric guitar. Apollo's Lyre, they called it. Made by HIC, short for Hermes' Instrument Company, and bought for a hefty price by the owner of Wing Tree Records and Jason's father, Zeus J. Grace.
"No way," Percy gasped, pointing a finger at the shining instrument. "You own Apollo's Lyre?" he asked Jason as they walked to the first door on the left.
"My dad does," Jason replied.
He opened the cream-colored door and stepped aside to show them the room's interior. The walls were a solid charcoal grey and the furniture was practical and available only in black and white. There was another cream-colored door in the room with a golden plate on its surface that read BATHROOM in large black lettering.
"This is only one of the four guest rooms. The other guest bedrooms are exactly the same except their color schemes are cyan, magenta, and yellow. Which of these rooms do you guys want to use?"
"Is it okay if Leo and I share the cyan room?" Percy asked, jerking his thumb to the drummer standing next to him.
"Uh, yeah. Sure." Jason raised his eyebrows, regarding the pair with some form of fascination as he showed them to the room behind the first door on the right. Surely enough, the walls were cyan and the furniture was in different shades of blue.
Nico lugged his suitcase inside the grey room. He was about to close the door when Jason spoke.
"Food's in the fridge if you guys are hungry. Make yourselves at home. If you guys need anything, I'll be downstairs in the living room," Jason said before he left.
Leo and Percy closed the door to their room, and Nico did the same. He scanned the room for a clock, and found an alarm clock on the bedside table. 3:44PM it said. Nico lugged his suitcase to the foot of the bed where a handsome black velvet chaise longue was located. He searched for his toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste, planning to freshen up in the guest bathroom.
"Reyna," Jason spoke with his cell phone to his ear. He leaned against the wall next to the doorway connecting the living room to the foyer. "You never told me about this arrangement. You didn't tell me it was today. In my house. With those people. I haven't even heard of them before."
He heard her click her tongue on her end of the call. "You will treat Annabeth's clients with respect. Of course you haven't heard of them before. They released their debut album only two weeks ago and they've become a huge hit. During that time, you've been busy with voice training and the video shoot for your newest single. It's no wonder you haven't heard of them. Today was the only day they could have left Nashville to come here."
"Why my house?"
"Instead of you going out to meet new people, I'm bringing new people to you. You've been complaining about having no social life, after all." Reyna's tone was teasing.
"Well whose fault was that?" Jason knit his brows, put his hand on his waist and started to pace around the room. He'd had a busy few months with all the appointments Reyna scheduled for him.
Today was his first rest day, and Jason was supposed to take a long nap on the bed he hasn't crashed on in forever (after dance rehearsals, recordings and photo shoots, he'd make a beeline for the leather couch in the living room and collapse there because it was a lot nearer than his king-sized bed on the third floor). Reyna had let herself in with a spare key sometime during his nap, but Jason had only woken up when the doorbell rang. He had seen Reyna leaning against the doorframe of his room with her phone in hand, and she had instructed him to put a shirt on and freshen up before getting the door. Jason had done what he was told, and he had opened his door to the people who were technically now living with him until a song has been composed and recorded.
The hectic schedule Reyna had arranged for him, he could excuse. She was the reason behind his success, and Jason has never questioned her judgement. His father had entrusted him to one of the best talent managers in the area after all. But not telling him about the collaboration plans beforehand was something Jason wanted to be mad at her for.
Reyna was silent, but Jason knew there was a ghost of a smile on her face. He knew that Reyna knew that Jason would never be mad at her for long. Reyna's decisions for Jason always turned out great for him in the long run.
"We're only in the composing stage so there is no need to waste time trying to reserve a booth in Wing Tree Records if you guys have no song yet," Reyna said.
Jason stopped in front of the widescreen TV. "What kind of theme did you want us to use for the song?"
"The four of you will decide on that."
Jason grunted in response. After a beat, he asked about the band's manager. "Reyna, is that woman really Annabeth? The girlfriend you were telling me about?"
"… Yes. What of it?"
"Nothing much. I was just curious about her clients. Leo and Percy? Are they…?" Jason's voice trailed off.
"They're a couple."
Jason turned his back and saw the TV remote on the coffee table. "Hm. I figured as much. They're sharing a room in my house. Are they out?"
"Very much so. I think I can speak for Annabeth when I say that their relationship is one of their band's biggest selling points."
"How about Nico?" Jason asked. Then he froze. He didn't mean to ask about Nico. It simply came out of his mouth.
"Hold on," Reyna said before he could tell her never mind, forget I asked. Jason heard muffled female voices in the background. After a brief moment, Reyna spoke. "He's out, but he doesn't make a big deal about it. He's a lot more known for his killer voice and peculiar stage presence."
"As he should be," Jason heard Annabeth say in the background.
"…Am I on loudspeaker?" Jason asked.
"Yes." Reyna and Annabeth chorused.
Just great. Jason rubbed one of his temples with his free hand.
"Play nice, Jason. This could be big for you. For all four of you. Okay? Okay. I'll see you all at dinner tonight," Reyna said, ending the call.
Jason sighed and tossed his phone onto the couch.
"We're at Jason Grace's house- uh, mansion. This place is huge, Hazel." Nico spoke to his sister on the other line. He held his cell phone to his ear as he parted the creamy white curtains of the guest room with his other hand to a view of an outdoor pool in the backyard.
Nico sighed dreamily. "Wish you could be here, sis."
He heard her hearty chuckle on the other line which never failed to warm his heart.
"You sound really happy to be there, Nico," she said. Nico smiled at this.
"Don't tell Frank, but is Jason really as hot as he looks on magazines?" Hazel asked.
The image of the tall and well-built Jason Grace with finger-combed blond hair, crinkly blue eyes, that interesting scar on the corner of those naturally pouty lips, a muscle shirt stretched taut over his chest, and sweatpants hanging dangerously low over his hips to show a bit of tanned skin between what looked like the only two articles of clothing Jason had been wearing popped into Nico's head. His face heated up.
"Hotter. Definitely hotter." Nico replied.
"You're living the dream, brother. Living with your celebrity crush? You don't have to moon over my fashion magazines anymore." Hazel teased.
Nico laughed. "Guess not."
"I wouldn't be surprised if the two of you started going out, though," she said.
"Woah, slow down there, Hazel." Nico spun on his heel and let himself fall back onto the soft bed.
"This is just a collaboration, not The Bachelor: Gay Edition featuring Jason Grace. Sure, I'm glad to see him in the flesh, but at the end of the day, all of this is for our music careers." Nico said it so convincingly that he started to believe what he had said. There was truth to his words, but the sole reason for why he himself came here was because he fell in love with Jason Grace.
At least, he thought that meeting Jason was the only reason he had for doing this collaboration.
When Annabeth had briefed Jason about the general collaboration details earlier, Nico realized that, yes, this will be good for the band's reputation and popularity if they manage to create a good song together. He, Leo, and Percy have always dreamed of making their band famous since they were in middle school. They were going to be doing the songs they liked to play and get recognized for them. And their shared dream came true after talent manager Annabeth Chase discovered them playing at a local café in New Orleans a month ago. It was just a matter of staying famous and coming up with new material to sustain that dream-turned-reality.
From the moment he stepped out of Jason's living room, Nico had decided to make songwriting his number one priority. He was doing this collaboration for the sake of Greeks & Romance. Nico didn't want to let Leo and Percy down. Jason Grace would have to be a lesser priority.
But he'll be damned if he can't get Jason to like him in the days to come.
Nico heard Hazel hum in thought. "If he was straight, he wouldn't be straight for long, Nico. I mean, with your looks and your voice, you're really gonna catch his attention. God knows you've already turned several men's heads and led them away from the straight path."
Nico laughed uneasily. "I think you're talking about Percy," he said, grimly noting that he had been in love with the band's lead guitarist before the sea-green-eyed brunet started going out with the band's drummer.
"No. I'm not talking about him. You have to stop thinking you're an undesirable nobody. You got the looks."
"I'm lanky and scrawny, Hazel."
"You got the voice."
"Thank you." The only compliment Nico seems to take properly is a compliment on his singing.
"You got a very interesting personality."
"What a roundabout way to say I'm eccentric."
"In a good way, Nico. You're refreshingly different."
"When is 'different' ever 'refreshing'?" he scoffed. Nico bolted upright when he heard a knock on the door.
"When you do something people don't normally do, and it's wonderful. Like that time you put parmesan cheese on fried banana slices," she answered.
Nico went to the door and opened it just a crack. He peeked out and saw his bandmates.
"I gotta go. I'll call you later, Hazel," he spoke. He waited for her to say goodbye before he ended the call.
"Come on, man. Let's go find Jason and see if he'll give us a tour of Grace Manor," Leo said, grinning widely.
Nico pulled the door open and stepped outside his room, stuffing his phone into his pocket. "Sure, why not?"
A/N: Tbh I did try fried bananas with grated parmesan cheese before. It was an interesting flavor combination lol.