part I

Nico didn't even like the coffee there that much. He really didn't. Usually, it was just a bit too sweet and the taste was always kind of off. But it didn't matter how many times he told himself that he should just go to a different café to get his coffee, he never did. Of course, the very attractive Percy was not the cause of that.

Of course he was.

When Nico came in for the first time a few months ago, just moving to the city for the local college, he just wandered in and there he was.

Now, Nico wasn't gay as much as he was straight. He was in between, varying on different guys and girls but all of them had just been crushes. So when he met Percy for the first time, he knew he had a crush right away.

Percy, in his opinion, was everything he wanted to be. Percy had exactly the right amount of kindness in him, and his looks were just perfect with his sea-green eyes and shaggy bordering-between-black-and-brown hair. He was almost always smiling and he was sociable enough to be considered friendly but not too sociable to be considered annoying.

Of course, this is what Nico has gathered over the few months he's been coming here even though he barely exchanged words with Percy at all…he was too sociably awkward to do that so all he did was thank him for the coffee and sit down to watch him (not too obviously though).

Nico walks in, causing the bell at the top of the door to ring, alerting the staff of his presence. He watches as Percy looks up and gives him a wide smile. Percy automatically goes to work, already having Nico's preferred drink of choice memorized. Nico reaches for his wallet, pulling out the exact change. When Nico arrived at the desk, he smiles shyly at Percy who is grinning at him.

"How are you Nico?" Percy asks. Percy was in his third year of college, while Nico was just a freshman. He was sure Percy looked at Nico as some sort of accomplice-friend person. After all, they only talked in this very café.

"I'm good. You?" Nico asks, trying to limit his words to next to none. Percy's smile widened, making Nico's heart to lurch.

"I'm good too. I'm taking my girlfriend out for a date today and it's been a while since we could hang out so I'm pretty psyched," he informs Nico happily. Nico forces back his flinch.

He knew Percy had a girlfriend. In fact he's met her once when she visited Percy in the shop as a surprise. Nico liked her. Her name was Annabeth and she said exactly what was on her mind and the first thing she ever said to Nico was how much she liked his jacket. He had smiled shyly at her when it happened, unsure of how to respond. He had watched from his usual spot Percy and Annabeth talk and laugh like usual couples do and then she was gone, waving goodbye to the both of them as she walked out.

Nico zones back in on the present, and reminds himself of what Percy had just said.

"Oh that's cool. Hope it's fun," he manages to say. Percy gives him a weird look, but otherwise smiles.

"Here's your usual, Nico di Angelo," Percy says, handing him his coffee.

"Here's the usual amount, Percy Jackson…" Nico mumbles as he hands over the money. Percy gives him a wink and Nico turns quickly before Percy could see him blush.

Stupid crushes, Nico curses to himself as he grips his coffee before seating himself down.

It was like this every day.

Percy wasn't at work today.

That was the first thing he notices as he walks through the doors. Nico frowns at the replacement, Luke, who he only ever saw on the days Percy wasn't there, which was on Wednesdays and Saturdays, not Tuesdays. The bell rang, as usual, and Luke looked up.

"Well if it isn't Nico! How you been, man?" Luke calls out. Nico blushes, glancing around wildly, relieved to see no one was even in the café. He hates having the attention on him.

"Oh I'm good. Yeah. I forgot something. I need to go. Sorry," Nico stutters out. Luke grins.

"Nah it's okay. I understand. I'm not Percy so figured you'd say something like that. See you, Nico!" he says.

Not Percy? What was he suggesting?! Nico exclaims to himself, as he stumbles out of the café. Did he know something?! Nico blushes at the thought, but kept walking.

He can't just go back in and confront Luke about it anyway. He just hopes Percy doesn't know anything.

The next day, Nico almost walks in before remembering it's Wednesday and that Percy doesn't work on Wednesdays.

Nico sighs to himself and turns to leave, but stops short when he notices Annabeth a ways back, staring at the store with an expression he can't place. Nico starts to panic, not sure if he wants to be seen by Annabeth, but before he can hide himself, Annabeth notices him.

"Nico?" she calls out, running up to him. Nico looks down. Damnit.

"Annabeth?" he asks, trying his best to sound surprised too.

"Hey Nico! What are you doing in here?" Nico sees her smile, but for some reason it was strange. It seems forced, as if she was hiding a sadness of some kind.

"Oh uhm…I just stopped by to get some coffee…and-"

"Is Percy in there?" she asks, peeking over Nico's shoulder. Nico scrunches his nose at her.

Either it was bad of her to not know her boyfriend's schedule or it was bad of him to have it memorized.

He figures it was the latter.

"Oh no, he's off today," he informs her, trying to overcome his awkwardness. Why doesn't she just call him if she wants to see him?

"Ah," she says, looking down at her feet. Nico knew it. Something is not right here.

"Is everything okay?" he asks, trying his best to sound somewhat concerned. He is worried, to be honest, because he's afraid that the reason she's so worried might have been the reason Percy didn't come in yesterday. School is on break now, so he knows it wasn't that. He wants to know why Percy was off yesterday.

"Eh yeah, it's fine. Don't worry about it Nico. Well, see you later!" she says, turning to leave.

Before Nico can respond, she was gone from sight, and he sighs, still wanting to know what was going on.

Oh well.

It's not like it's my business anyway, he thinks sourly to himself.

Nico stands in front of the café door, suddenly feeling very nervous.

Percy should be here today, but he isn't sure what he would do if he wasn't.

Percy, from his experience, only took sick days when it was an emergency, so what could have been going on?

He takes a deep breath, and opens the door, hearing the familiar ping of the bell. His eyes immediately focus on Percy, who is standing there in his usual place, but unlike other days, he looks strange. His hair, which was usually in a shaggy in a good kind of way, now looks messy but not in a good way. He has huge bags under his eyes, but that wasn't the thing that disturbs Nico the most.

It was the fact that Percy isn't smiling, and the fact that Percy did not look up when he walked in.

Nico stands there, completely still and unsure of how to act. Should he just leave? Does he really want his image of "perfect" Percy to disappear in his mind?

Nico shakes his head, determining that that was absolutely ridiculous. Percy can have bad days too.

Nico walks up to the register and it isn't until he is completely in front of Percy did Percy look up. The look in Percy's eyes destroys him.

"Can I have number six please?" Nico asks, numb to how he should act. Percy simply nods, devoid of any emotion.

"Yeah. That'll be $4.50," Percy says.

Nico nods. He knows that. He knows that Percy knows he knows that as well.

He pulls out the amount of money that he pays every day and hands it to Percy hesitantly. Their hands brush and Nico has to contain his shiver.

Percy is not himself. At. All.

Nico stands there, awkwardly, waiting for his coffee. The crappy thing about this café is that it was so unpopular that there was almost no one ever there. Plus, the workers usually ranged from one to three, and right now it seems to be just Percy manning the shop.

Nico doesn't know what to say or how to react to this kind of situation. He is always used to the smiling Percy. The super nice Percy. The Percy that seemed to never have one bad day, but this…this proved all of those Percys wrong.

This Percy seems broken and lost, and Nico doesn't know why.

Just the other day he had been so happy about going on his date with Annabeth an—Nico stops his thoughts midway.

Annabeth!

It has to do something with her! She was here the other day with that weird look on her face. Plus, she hasn't been acting like herself either. Did something happen between the two of them?

Before he knew what he was doing, Nico blurts out, "How was your date with Annabeth?" Nico's eyes widen at his nosiness and immediately he shifts his gaze down to the very interesting floor. What he doesn't expect is Percy's response.

"That's none of your damn business Nico," he practically snarls.

Nico, hurt and shocked, simply stares at him. He watches as Percy's face transforms into something that looks like remorse, but as soon as Percy hands him the coffee, Nico fled.

Obviously, Percy only thought of him as an annoying, nosy customer and Nico knows he is.

Anyway, he doesn't have time for this anymore anyway. School was starting soon, so what can he expect to happen?

What he doesn't expect was the single tear that was rolling down his very own cheek and Nico has to almost laugh at how ridiculous that was.

When was the last time he had cried?

Images of Bianca runs through his mind, but he pushes them back.

Not now, he forces himself to think. Percy's glare enters his mind again and he shivers. He downs the too-sweet coffee, before throwing the cup away.

If only he could throw away his feelings just as easily.

*Hey guys! So this story has been in my mind for a while and originally it was just going to be a one-shot but nah...apparently not haha. Well, I imagine this story will have no more than 10 chapters, but we'll see right? Anyway, did you like it? I love reviews and thanks for reading! :)

Bai guys

-DiAnna44

My FanFiction Facebook Page- DiannaFanFictionWriter

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*edited- 8/13/15