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Chapter II
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"So we're going to have company," Nico said. "Is that alright?"
"That's okay." Hazel kissed him sweetly on the cheek, which was when Nico realized she had her backpack strapped over her shoulder. "I'm going with Frank to see his grandmother. We'll be back on Monday."
"Okay." Wait a minute. Nico snaked a hand around her arm before she made it out the door. "Wait, you're going to Canada?"
Her immediate wince gave her away. Nico almost wanted to smack her.
"You are not going to Canada."
"Grandma Zhang really wants to see me!" Hazel protested. She crossed her arms and held her ground. "You know Frank doesn't like leaving her alone too long."
"And why can't she come to Manhattan?" Nico scowled and held the door open—fully expecting her to retreat to her room.
"Because the Zhang House has history to it. She doesn't want to leave her roots." She rolled her eyes, standing even taller next to him. Hazel was to the core a sweet person, but it didn't make her any less stubborn. "Nico, I'm eighteen! Don't you think I can get a little bit of leeway?"
"Sure, if you weren't leaving the country."
"Nico. Please?" Hazel looked him in the eye this time. Her gold irises hardened, eyebrows furrowed together. She not only wanted to go to be alone with her boyfriend for the next few days, but because she was worried. Nico knew Grandma Zhang was sickly and alone by herself at home. Frank to Nico was a little bland and a bit on the awkward side, but he knew Grandma Zhang being sick was probably eating the poor guy up.
"Eh." Thalia slung an arm over Nico's shoulder. "I say just let her go. Canada is literally right there."
"Been to Canada," Piper said. She nudged Reyna in the arm and shrugged. "Good gelato."
"Good everything." Reyna nodded in agreement and tipped her hat to Nico's sister.
Who stared at all three women carefully. Hazel's lips contorted into a frown and she turned to Nico. "Should I be concerned?"
"What—that I have three women coming to spend the night with me?" Nico rolled his eyes.
"You shouldn't," Piper said—and Nico's gaze immediately fell back to his sister. He felt the disturbing sweetness of Piper's voice craw up his spine. Whether she meant to do that or not, Nico definitely couldn't tell.
It was either Nico breaking down that sleeping in an apartment by himself with three women or Piper's melodic voice, but Hazel relinquished. She stared at Nico with that look—the one where Nico was going to end up in knots if he still said no. "I won't judge your sleeping arrangements if you let me go with Frank."
"Out of the country?"
Hazel was a cruel force.
"Fine." Sorting out Nico's now-crazy life would be a lot easier (and safer) if she was literally in different said country. She threw her arms around him with a happy squeal and kissed him on the cheek again before disappearing in the elevator. "But you better sleep in different beds!"
"You were going to say yes anyway." Thalia sniggered. "Weren't you?"
"Then she'd know she can get away with almost everything," Nico grumbled. He shut the door behind him and retreated to the pantry for macaroni. Ten minutes earlier, he'd gotten a text from Mitchell that read, Going shopping at the mall, what's your pants size? and knew he wouldn't be seeing his best friend for the rest of the night.
With no immediate food available and already exhausted from social interaction, Nico wasn't planning on going out again.
He turned around—
"Who is that girl?" Piper asked immediately. "Look at the legs on her!"
Legs. Ugh. Really?
"Don't forget the buffoon on her shoulder," Reyna pointed out. She sounded exasperated. "She could do better."
Thalia kicked her legs over the kitchen counter, perched on a stool with a beer in hand. She instantly made herself at home.
Rolling his eyes, Nico looked over Reyna's shoulder. "That's Annabeth. She doesn't live here, but she takes that guy—Percy—home when he gets too drunk at my neighbor's place." He debated on it before adding, "They're not dating."
"Can't hold his liquor, eh?" Thalia hummed and opened up a second bottle of beer. "Wuss."
She definitely was a spitting image of Percy Jackson. Nico was about to berate her for mooching off his alcohol—but this whole night was giving him a headache. Once the water was done boiling on the stove, he dumped four cups of pasta in the pot and popped open his own bottle.
His phone buzzed.
Mitchell K: Leo found some cute pants that'll go well with your complexion! :D
Nico glared at his phone. "Is Leo that friend of yours?"
"Jason's friend," Thalia responded. She took another swig of her bottle and sighed. "Really? No rum and coke?"
"I'm letting you crash here for the—day. Not to have a drinking game with you." Nico ran his hand through his hair. He was going to go bald from this day alone, and it wasn't going to be pretty.
"Vodka?"
Ugh. Walking back to the fridge, Nico pulled the said bottle of vodka out of his freezer.
WOOSH!
"What the—" Nico whirled around, only to see Reyna and Piper jump out of his window. "HEY!"
"Vampire and siren, remember?" Thalia didn't budge. She opened the bottle of vodka and somehow summoned two shot glasses. "Trust me. They've been through worse."
She held out one of the glasses and Nico didn't hesitate gulping it down. Through the window, Annabeth was now entranced by the girls as they surrounded her—both unscathed.
A feat like that was one of the reasons Nico decided to believe Thalia. He didn't like the fact that she was drinking everything he owned (but that would quickly be fixed when the Stoll Brothers barged into his room at four in the morning. Alcohol and driving Nico up the wall were how they apologized.)
Reyna was as pale—paler than Jason, with visible fangs when she opened her mouth. She seemed ruthless—and although she could control that so-called bloodlust, Nico saw her eyeing different people with different problems. They walked passed a man with a bloody nose on the way to Nico's apartment, and she stared at him until he turned the corner. Nico ran into her once by accident, and was certain that he now had frostbite.
Piper, on the other hand, had a voice that added to her beauty. Nico thought they were interesting and pretty in their own way, but when Piper spoke, she commanded the attention of anyone lingering in a ten-mile radius. The sweetness in her voice was hypnotizing. Sirens were part of Greek Mythology and were beautiful monster-creatures that lured men to their deaths. When Nico asked how being away from the sea factored into the equation, she responded with, "I hate following the school."
Thalia was the interesting case. She mentioned being a fourth vampire and looked at Nico wolfishly, like she was waiting for him to pee himself. Her complexion (face still looking nothing at all like Jason's) was a better color than either Jason or Reyna, and she was a lot more animated. Something told Nico that she hated staying still as much as he did.
Their phones buzzed at the same time. Nico unlocked his phone again, hoping for someone—anything that would send him back to a world filled with rationality. Instead—he was met with a picture of the short boy from earlier—Leo—covered in six scarves and holding up a pair of dark red pants.
Mitchell K: :D!
"Leo says he's drowning in scarves and that he hates all of us, even 'random skeleton guy.'" Thalia chuckled softly under her breath and poured another glass of vodka for herself. "I'm assuming that's you."
Nico grunted. He quickly texted Mitchell back with the correct pants size and demanded Mitchell not to buy those pants. Looking back to the window, Nico found out that Annabeth, Reyna, and Piper were all gone while Percy was slumbering on a bench—strategically laying on his side.
"They'll be back," Thalia assured.
"So this whole blood lust thing." Nico's gaze narrowed. "Real?"
"Very. Reyna especially has to practice patience because of it." Thalia shook her head, apparently remembering things she wasn't proud of. She shut her eyes for a brief moment before turning his way. "She's recently turned."
"By you and Jason?"
"No. Gods—no. Jason gave her some pointers though. I'm—mostly werewolf now. It lowers my inner hemophiliac a bit, but Reyna needs to feed at least twice a week so she doesn't fall into fever. Or, you know." Thalia's gaze narrowed. "Die."
"That's a bit morbid, don't you think?" Nico muttered quietly. "And werewolf?"
She skipped the latter entirely. "Since Jason's only a fourth, he's able to schmoose by for a few weeks with coconut milk."
"Yeah, but coconut juice only acts as a saline solution." Nico's eyebrows furrowed. "He'd have to make up for the lack of nutrients and minerals usually found in blood by using supple—oh."
"He hates taking someone else's blood without permission. It kind of weirds him out. So he drinks six packs of coconut juice like they're the vapor version of cigarettes and ends up getting nauseous and what not from the lack of actual blood intake." Thalia huffed. "God, I don't even want to think of when the last time he had real human blood was."
"Can't he turn into a werewolf the same way you did?"
"Can't bite him. Girls only." Thalia stared at the bottle of vodka. Nico had the feeling it was going to be empty by the time Piper and Reyna came back. She looked as worried as Nico felt when Hazel forgot to call him in the middle of the night.
He was still wrapping his mind around the fact that he was believing any of this. The vodka needed to kick in within the next few minutes. Seriously.
"You owe me a new bottle," Nico said after a long silence.
Shrug. Thalia looked back at him nonchalantly. She dug in her pocket and pulled out a crumpled twenty.
He debated shoving the bottle down his throat.
-x-
At 8AM, Nico thought about taking up Thalia's offer to restock his vodka with more…colorful drinks. The Stoll Brothers were probably still feeling their all-nighter high, so he could probably get something even more rare and rich from them. However—the idea of Thalia meeting Travis and Connor gave him a sudden migraine.
Piper and Reyna knocked on his door not too long after Thalia dozed off on his couch—both wearing parts of each other's clothes and one of Annabeth's old orange camp shirts.
Nico glared at them blearily on the other side of his window, while they somehow managed to look back at him outside the third floor. Once he let them in, they collapsed in a neat semi-circle around their third companion.
(He wasn't going to ask about the orange shirt, or why one of the sleeves looked torn.)
Satisfied, Nico changed into pajamas and decided to call it a day.
Then someone knocked on the door.
Seriously? Nico groaned and pressed his face into the wall for two seconds of peace before the same rhythmic pattern continued. The last he checked, Percy was still sleeping peacefully on the bench outside. He was pretty sure Percy'd even woken up at some point and stripped down to boxers.
If he went to bed now, then he could save himself from having a conversation that took half his brain cells to compute.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
On the other hand, he was never going to fall asleep if that incessant racket didn't stop. He gritted his teeth and yanked the door open. "What?" Oh.
Jason. Weird hoodie-wearing, black-jeans cladded, the-one-who-started-it-all Jason. He was practically wearing a face mask and looked ready to puke his guts (or whatever might actually be in his stomach) out. Nico stared at him in disbelief before bolting down the hall to close all the windows.
The other boy frowned. "You don't have to—"
"You can take your hood down now." Nico already put up the blinds in his apartment. He'd seen how raggedy Reyna looked. Just a fourth of that would make him puke.
"Why'd you do that?
"Because I saw how bad Reyna got. I know you're only a fourth, but better safe than sorry." A sigh left Nico's lips. He closed his eyes for only a second—and felt himself doze off. Laughter from the other boy woke him up.
"You're really not a morning person, are you?"
"Says the guy who can't go out into the sun anyway?"
"Do you mean 'step foot outside'?"
"Shut it."
Usually Nico's innate grouchiness made others run away. He could offend without really meaning to, with his mouth and brain working before his common sense—which was probably half the reason why getting into a relationship was hard. Other people got mad constantly.
Yet Jason only laughed again. His chuckle was like electricity, which struck Nico with the energy and motivation to stay there.
With a heavy sigh, the shorter boy dropped to the ground and crossed his legs.
Jason blinked at him, unsure of what to do before he perched beside Nico. His eyes went from one end of the hall to the other. If Nico'd been looking, he would see that the blond looked just as haggard. "So. You ran into my sister?"
"She said I smell like you and then bit me."
"What?" He sat upright.
The edge of Nico's lips curled into a dull smirk.
"You little—" With barely a glance, he could see Jason undo the fib. Jason snickered like a child.
Now Nico saw the family resemblance.
"I can't believe she's in town." Grimacing, Jason slumped against the wall and looked up to the ceiling. His expression was weak—dull, even.
"What—you weren't expecting her?"
"No, not really."
Nico frowned. He cocked his head toward the other boy, fully examining Jason. And despite the fact Jason had the ferocity in his voice, Nico decided that Jason looked even worse than he did the first time they met. "Then why would you be here?"
Red glowed in Jason's pale cheeks, contrasting with that skin. His complexion only made Nico grimace. The expression over Jason's face was worrisome. While he was displeased with his sister's sudden appearance, Nico could see why Thalia was concerned. It was Jason's eyes alone that showed any viable emotion. His lips remained at a flat crescent, so sadistically faint that Nico was sure that he would have preferred a kicked puppy (he then made a mental note to find a new metaphor for those dumb eyes. Puppy was of course the exact opposite of what he was.)
Then, Jason shrugged. "You kissed me and then shut the door on my face. I've been trying to read the signals, but I wasn't sure if you wanted to see me again."
"What signals?" At this very moment, Nico was sure Mitchell woke up to laugh at him.
"I—" Jason's demeanor attuned to his thoughts. His eyebrows furrowed and he stared at the ceiling. "Why are you housing my sister, ex-girlfriend, and partner?"
"Why are you changing the subject?" Nico retorted. He rolled his eyes. Jason had the same attention span (or there lack of) that he did the last time that they were together.
"Are we really going to play this game?" The irritation in Jason's voice jolted Nico awake.
His gaze flitted back to Jason as he hoped his face didn't betray him. Jason having a backbone was something Nico should have seen coming. Someone with a body like that couldn't be as delicate as a daisy. Whether beneath the shock he was offended or impressed, Nico had no clue.
"Sorry," Jason said immediately. His entire demeanor contorted and he ducked his head between his knees. "God, I—just didn't want to get anyone involved."
"That's a little too late. Your sister drank my vodka." Nico wasn't sure whether or not he was trying to make a joke. He did see, however, the way Jason's eyebrows furrowed.
The other boy pressed his palms at the back of his head, forehead still between knees, and sighed unsteadily. At a loss of what to say, Nico tried to run every word of comfort in his head. He appreciated those self-sacrificial, all-is-noble-and-well characters in cinema and books. They were the only ones that had the common sense to get anything done.
He pulled out of his thoughts when Jason had the gall to dig into his pocket and pull out money. Nico groaned. "Seriously?"
Pale blue eyes looked back to him, wary, before he placed it between them.
Nico was too tired to argue. Instead, he took his hands out of his sweat pants and crossed them over his chest. "So. Vampire, huh?"
Silence. Jason's gaze went from staring at Nico to staring at the wall on the other end of the hall. "Technically, I did tell you."
"Yeah. And I thought you were trying to cheer me up."
"You laughed, didn't you?"
"I don't laugh at familial situations," Nico snapped back unintentionally. "Even if I'm still trying to wrap my head around it."
Judging by the sudden grimace over Jason's lips, Nico knew his message was loud and clear. The blond knotted his hands in his hair and glared dumbly at his shoelaces. "It's complicated."
"Okay?"
Jason's demeanor hardened—bittersweet and wary like the first instance that either of them spoke of their parents. Nico didn't understand that reaction back then, but the irony of it flooded his senses now. Jason wasn't just an optimistic, grateful pushover from the streets. Instead, he chuckled with a light baritone that was…fitting. "Why did you tell me about yours?"
Shrug. "Vampire pheromones?"
Jason snickered like a child and straightened his back against the wall. "I don't—I don't have that."
"Then tell me what you have." Nico wasn't going to get any sleep anyway. His good conscience made it hard for him to sleep when the guilt and worry ate at his brain. With a quiet sigh, his back flattened against the wall and he crossed his leg. Dark eyes looked up to Jason with curiosity.
Blue eyes looked back to him, flickering with hesitation.
"I've got time," Nico insisted.
"My dad. He…" Jason glared at his hands. "He sleeps around a lot."
"Married?"
"Yeah. To one woman." The blond chuckled bitterly and pressed his hand against the back of his head once more. "Like, I don't know why she doesn't leave him. He has at least nine other kids, excluding Thalia and myself. At least she and I are from the same mother."
"That…makes no sense."
"Yeah. Juno is infertile. And I don't know if that's what turns Dad off or if he just likes…sex. Then he met my mom—half succubus, half vampire, and, well, decided to have as much sex as he wanted with her." Jason sighed. "You can guess the end result."
"So hypothetically, you're one-fourth vampire and one-fourth incubus." Nico frowned.
"One-fourth incubu—wow. You got it right the first time. Not a lot of people do." The smile over Jason's lips was tight, but mirthful.
Wait. Nico placed a hand over his own mouth. "Did you cut me when we…?"
"Fangs," the other boy responded. His cheeks glowed and he looked at the ceiling. He leaned over, propped his elbow on his calf, and rested a cheek in his palm. "They come out when I…" Jason didn't bother finishing that sentence.
Nico wondered if his face matched the same shade as Jason's—and what the end of that sentence was supposed to be. (Both—he decided to ignore.)
"And no hypothetical," Jason continued when Nico's mental capacity could do nothing but squirm. He smiled kindly in that sickeningly-sweet Prince Charming kind of way and snorted. "I am what I am."
"I thought vampires were like zombies, only with a brain." Nico, of course, was a fanatic of these things when he was younger. Ripley's Believe It or Not was one of his favorite books, and everything he could get his hands on about the mythological creatures. His belief and enthusiasm died years ago. A vampire's body wasn't alive—not like humans were. "The proper amount of chromosomes aside, how is it possible that your mother was able to procreate the human way?"
"Semantics."
"How does that make any sense?"
This time, Jason's lips curled into a grin. He laughed—strained, yet sounding so close to being free. It made Nico nudge the blonde in the ribs and laugh a little too.
Until Jason stopped. His gaze hollowed pathetically and his smile wilted.
Nico sobered and stared at his feet. Hazel was the only one who ever came to him with a problem. That changed now that Frank was in her life—so that brought his experience with dealing with people down to nothing. "So?"
"So? Ah." Even Jason seemed to forget what they were talking about. His eyes squeezed shut. "Juno. My stepmother. She has access to a blood bank and I have no idea where."
"And you need to get to it."
"I need to get rid of it."
Uh. Nico cocked his head to the other boy and found that—no, Jason wasn't kidding. The look over Jason's face was stern and cold, and a little reminiscent to Nico's terrible joke days ago about the Jason who was raised by wolves and destined to lead armies. There was a little bit of lone wolf and self-sacrificial moron laced in that demeanor. His mind halted when he ran Jason's prior sentence through his mind.
Blood banks were for patients. Usually at a hospital. Whatever this Juno's profession was clearly held a minor importance in comparison to her vampire stepson. This was a case of nepotism that Nico wasn't sure he would ever be familiar with.
At the same time, this was apparently Jason's source of life.
"You're only a fourth, right?" Nico frowned. "You don't need the blood as much as a…purebred?"
One shoulder went up while the other sagged. Jason hunched over, looking like a golden retriever that was trying to undo a math problem. (Nico was going to have to stop with the dog metaphors. However, those sky blue eyes weren't what he imagined when it came to demon spawn.)
Jason shook his head precisely, the wrinkle in his eyebrow pinching closer together. "Reyna's only a few years old, vampire-wise. She needs the blood more than I do. Once she's well and able, we'll wean her off and survive on coconut milk. She'll still need to feed on blood, but hopefully in longer timespans."
So the small talk about coconut juice being used as a saline solution was actually relevant. Nico felt his face twitch when he couldn't conjure an immediate response.
"Juno and Dad are like gods. They have everything that suits their fancy." Shaking his head miserably, Jason looked back to Nico with fear in his orbs. "They are the last two people that you want in a hospital, Nico. That blood is better used for other people."
"Then how do you live?"
Nico had to hand it to the other boy. The next smile was mischievous and lived up to even Percy's standards. Jason shrugged. "I have my ways."
Ergh. Nico rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Then, "My…dad's girlfriend once threatened to turn me into a dandelion."
"Wow. Oh my god—wow." To his surprise, Jason actually laughed. He stood to his feet and held a hand out. "You're one weird kid, Nico di Angelo."
"Says the weird kid who's been a vampire this entire time." Nico snorted. He took Jason's hand and pulled himself up. Then stumbled—before his bare toes touched the tips of Jason's shoes. He looked up to the taller boy, who held a bit of scruff down his pale jawline. Jason's hands were cold, but Nico's face was warm.
Then there were those eyes. For demon spawn, Nico saw no hatred in those irises. There was nothing but the sky in the reflection of those orbs—the stupid, stupid sky. Jason had the nerve to smile, his lips curling and the faint curve of fangs beneath them. "Are we really going to play this game?"
"Who said it was still a game?" Nico's gaze narrowed and he smirked.
"Wooow, I leave as a distraction for like, a whole night, and I find you making oogly-eyes with Jack Skellington."
Both boys turned their attention down the hall, met with the sight of the same boy from last night—well-accessorized in the ways Mitchell knew best. Jason guffawed, looking at the boy with obvious familiarity before he finally lost it.
Jason clutched his ribs, head dipping back with a howl of laughter, and he hit the wall. "Leo?!"
It was very Percy of him. Seriously—Nico needed to figure out how these crazy people swarmed around him instead of the normal ones.
Leo, the short Hispanic boy from the night before, was dressed in two of the well color-coordinated scarves Mitchell took photos of the night before, along with a pair of blue skinny jeans that clearly used to live in the back of Nico's closet, a white v-neck beneath snazzy brown suspenders, and a pair of hideous cowboy boots. The gold trim on those boots matched the stud in one of his ears.
Ugh. "I think I need sleep." Nico touched his forehead and turned toward the door.
He was cut off when Jason whirled him around to stare at the gaudy hipster-cowboy collaboration that could only be explained as a fucking disaster.
With no shame, Leo turned around and wriggled his hips in front of them. "You think these jeans compliment the curvature of my ass?"
"I think that question overlooks the realm of science," Jason replied instantly. He grinned, clearly not missing a beat, before they fistbumped like obnoxious fifteen-year-olds. "You are the only diversion I need in my life, Valdez."
"Why, Mister Maximus, I didn't know you cared so much." Leo snorted and dragged the boy down by the end of his jacket. An impish grin spread over his lips. He looked like a cat with its claw stuck in a curtain. "You owe me big, you know that, right?"
"What happened to Mitchell?" Nico frowned.
"Well, I snuck out of the dorm room—which really turned into, I tripped, fell into a wall, and Mitchie and I shared a lovely sunlit omelet in the commons—" Leo threw his hands up and down in the air, in several unneeded gestures that he didn't notice. He looked like a child that should never be near a coffee machine. With another impish grin, he looked wickedly to the both of them. "And then he went to work and I've been wandering around trying to find this apartment complex for the last twenty minutes."
Psychotic brown eyes flashed over to Nico immediately, and they seemed to grow more psychotic.
"Leo Valdez, repair boy extraordinaire! That's what Beauty Queen calls me anyway—I don't have any freaky demon powers but I've set a great deal of things on fire." Grinning, Leo took hold of Nico's hand and shook it with the same amount of mock-enthusiasm that was in his voice. He yanked Nico to the other side of him, and proceeded to throw an arm around the taller boy. "So, Jack—"
"Nico," Jason corrected. "Nico di Angelo."
"Ah—Nico, which derives from Nicholas, which comes from Nike, which of course means Victory of the People. And you, being tall, dark, and scrawny, means your name is—on technicality—Victory of the Angels." Leo wiggled his eyebrows.
Um. Nico cocked his head to Jason, who had the nerve to hide half his face under his hood. Both groaned.
"Do you have a name fetish?" Nico asked flatly.
"Nah, I just like freaking people out. That's my third superpower, which follows my amazing good looks." Leo smirked. He released them, feet practically landing on the floor, and leaned against the door, AKA Nico's only exit. "Nice Hades band there. You show Jack—"
"Nico."
"—the Jupiter one that I got you?" Again, Leo went on a tangent without precaution. A fourth ability of his must have been the ability to annoy—because Nico was clearly ready to smack him over the head.
However, patient Jason chuckled softly to himself and nodded.
The next smile over Leo's lips was more tamed. "Lovebirds, eh? You dog."
"Can I punch him?" Nico grumbled.
"He grows on you after the first twelve hours," Jason assured. His own smile weakened as he slapped a hand over Leo's back. Eyebrows furrowing together, they shared one glance before Leo's smile wilted as well.
With a dramatic sigh, the shortest boy grabbed Jason by the hand and yanked him into the apartment. "C'mon! Let's satisfy your dumb hemophilia!"
Blink.
With no other questions, Nico had no choice but to follow them in.
-x-
"How's the trip so far?"
"It's alright. We're going to a diner for breakfast. Frank and I hit a snag with a flat tire—"
"Flat tire?" Nico frowned and instinctively turned around, like his sister was talking to him from the dining table. He could practically hear Frank's whimpers in the background. "Do I need to call someone?"
"No, you don't." Hazel's next sound was a tiny laugh, followed by some smooching sounds that Nico didn't need to hear this early in the morning. "Frank's a good man, you know. He wouldn't let anything happen to me—nor would he let anything happen to you."
"I know," Nico assured. He just…hated that he couldn't take care of her anymore. Clutching the phone more tightly, he looked up to the two boys sitting at the table. Jason's big hands were fastened to Leo's waist, while the shorter boy wriggled around and took off both scarves. Standard procedure—from the looks of it.
"He's no taking me away from you," Hazel said—reading Nico's mind as usual. "He's just opening up a new place in my heart."
"You know I actually like him." Nico snorted. They'd been dating for two years now and Frank had Nico's blessing if they ever decided to get hitched. He had no clue where his sister and, by extension, his sister's boyfriend got the idea that he loathed Frank.
"Maybe you two should bond," Hazel said. "Like some guy time together."
Nico groaned—in the same pitch as Frank. Frank was quickly swatted, if the sudden Ow! Meant anything.
"He does know how to play Mythomagic, you know." Hazel tutted over the phone.
"Yeah," Nico agreed, "but he sucks at it. And that game is for babies, Haze."
"Yeah, sure. You were practically drooling when Jason showed you that armband."
Uh. He swallowed hard and looked back over to Jason. Who was kissing Leo. Like—really kissing Leo. Hard, on the mouth, with those firm hands supporting Leo by the arch of his back. "You saw that?"
"You were practically on his lap."
Red dusted over Leo's cheeks—flushed with heat as his hands scrambled for support. Within seconds, Jason pulled away, his nose grazing the other boy's jawline. He ducked, burying his face in the crook of Leo's neck. There was a twitch from Leo's end, before his eyes drooped sleepily, and the color returned to Jason's complexion.
Nico frowned. "Yeah. I'm not the only one."
-x-
"What do you want to eat tonight?"
"Hmm. Dim sum."
"What," Frank grinned, "you know a place that's actually open after seven?"
Nico shrugged back and pocketed his hands. He hid a smile when Hazel laughed and shared a kiss with her boyfriend, then tossed the bottle of Gatorade to their dorky archer. "When's the tournament?"
"This Saturday. You coming?" Her cheek rested against Frank's chest, with a broad smile curled against her lips. "You can bring Jason along with you too."
"Is it in the morning?"
"Yeah." Frank's eyebrows furrowed. "Will you come?"
"Probably not him." Nico shrugged. "Me, though."
"Also good," Frank chimed. He fastened his grip over Hazel's waist and brought her up for a chaste kiss on the lips.
"Hey!" At that moment, Percy Jackson saw it best to come over and high-five Frank. He wore a friendly grin as they fist-bump, then gave a hug to Hazel. His sea green eyes flashed with his usual excitement before moving on to Nico. "How've you been?"
"I saw you two days ago," Nico pointed out. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and tried his best not to frown.
Either Percy didn't notice the wryness at the bottom of Nico's voice, or he chose to ignore it. He studied Nico briefly with the same smile before shrugging, then turned to Frank once more. "I heard you two went to Canada to see your grandmother. How's she doing?"
Frank's own demeanor wavered. He collected his quiver and bow from the ground before pulling his duffel bag over his shoulder. The smile on his face was obviously a struggle. "She's been better. Grandma doesn't want me to be away from school too long and she refuses to move down here so I can take care of her. I hate it when she's that stubborn. But…I don't understand why she doesn't realize we're all that's left."
"She just wants what's best for you. Women show their love in different ways." Percy looked over to Hazel again warmly. "Right?"
"Annabeth would smack you if you just narrow it down to women," she replied.
"Annabeth smacks me all the time." Percy snorted. He shrugged, shoulders going to his ears before he ducked his head kindly. After that, he yanked Frank toward his teammates across the football field.
"Percy—wait, what are you—OH MY GOD!"
SPLAAAAASH!
Instantly, Frank was doused in two barrels of ice-cold Gatorade. His archery teammates cheered, "WE LOVE YOU, FRANKIE!"
With a cackle, Percy launched himself onto the other boy's back, duffel bag flying to the floor in one swift motion. Frank yelped and swung the other boy around. "You are so dead, Jackson!"
That barely got out between all of the laughing.
"Percy isn't even on the team," Nico pointed out. He watched as Percy crawled over Frank's shoulder blades and dangled over the bigger college student. "Why is he the one conducting the barrel drop?"
"You know Frank loves him like a brother." Hazel swatted her brother playfully and smiled. "C'mon, he's probably going with us to dinner."
"Pass."
"Why?" She arched a curious eyebrow and looped an arm around her brother's. "He's a nice guy. I don't know why you keep giving him grief."
Yeah. Hazel could pick up on the fact that Percy rubbed him the wrong way, but Nico had no intention of ever telling her why. Shaking his head, he turned toward the bus stop. "Reyna, Piper, and the others might wake up soon. I should go check."
"Right. I never thought I'd meet people that slept more than we did." With a tiny laugh, she retreated and joined her boyfriend. Percy immediately ruffled her hair and pulled her into a hug.
She hadn't batted an eyelash when Nico said that the crazy bunch at their house would be staying there for a few more days. It'd been two weeks now. They all came and went, depending on why they were needed.
Thalia had gone back to her pack. According to Jason, the human half of her was practically gone. Her pack leader—a werewolf—was a woman named Artemis. She took in several human (women) and those who weren't when they could no longer live in their current situation.
She helped people—and Thalia was second-in-command. As for Piper and Reyna, they were busy orbiting Annabeth like she was their world. Nico noticed here and there that Annabeth's usually-tan skin would pale, while Reyna's complexion was much better.
The blood lust was still there, Jason explained when Nico was curious. But being a werewolf came first. According to him, Thalia hated being anything else but her own person. She valued her relationship with Jason more than anything and vice versa, like Nico and Hazel, but snipped the roots she had to their parents when she was fifteen. Being half werewolf—alongside being one-fourth succubus and one-fourth vampire—rid her of her father. She could feed on wolf's blood and it would last her for months.
Which was probably one of the reasons she looked healthier than Jason did.
Nico wouldn't believe any of this—if it wasn't for the little scene in his kitchen weeks ago. It was a good thing Mitchell bought all of those scarves—Leo Valdez would need them for that gruesome vampire-hickey on his neck.
Jason had been missing for the past three days. Piper was good at videogames and exchanged Cherokee Tribe stories to Frank as he told Chinese myths, while Reyna and Hazel discussed Puerto Rican and Louisianan dishes they could both make.
Leo came in and out of the apartment. He spent most of his time with Mitchell—and when Nico asked his friend and classmate about this, Mitchell hid under his hands until his face was no longer red. The three guests all explained that Jason's disappearance was all because he was a moron who hated getting other people involved. Nico had no trouble believing that.
They were nice enough—Nico had to admit that.
'
"So why don't you like him?"
The sudden intrusion of Jason's voice made Nico jump. He pretended it didn't bother him and carefully turned to the other boy. Jason looked like he did all the time: pale, with stunning blue eyes and an alluring smile that made Nico want to smack him. A tiny flush of color was in his cheeks, however, giving Jason an apricot glow.
Staring at that specifically, Nico asked, "I take it you and Leo met up first?"
"Actually, no." Jason touched the back of his head. "I…found my dad. And stepmom."
"What happened?" Nico turned fully so that they were facing each other. From the way Jason spoke about his stepmother, he was always on edge and anxious to please her. Jason tried to act cool, but when it came to his parents, Nico was sure that he had some inferiority complex.
"I got invited to dinner three nights in a row and got gifts." Jason wrinkled his nose and pulled the usual hood away from his face. "You interested in a pair of satin pajamas?"
"Please. I could probably three of me in your pants," Nico snorted. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Hazel's gaze. She waved and mouthed, Hi, Jason before going back to converse with Annabeth. God, Nico knew better than to take that smile in. Her smile was nothing but pure evil.
"You want to get in my pants?" Cocking his head, Nico saw the little smile as it graced Jason's lips. It was full of amusement, mirth, and the tiny spark of mischief that reminded Nico of Jason's vodka-stealing sister. You couldn't be fooled with a face like that. Couldn't afford it. Nico'd seen that face grow serious when it came to quiet meetings with Jason's friends. Dumb blonde only described part of him. (Absolute idiocy described a seventh, but that was an explanation for another day.)
"You look satisfied with that answer," Nico pointed out. His own lips curled into a smirk and he shook his head in disbelief. Really, he walked right into that one.
"You walked right into it. I couldn't help it." Jason cracked a grin and held his head high with pride.
"Yeah. Didn't think of that." Nico stuffed his hands in his pockets and arched an eyebrow expectantly. "So?"
"So after I got a tux fitting to join her at the opening of an art gallery, I told her that I don't want take blood from a blood bank when there are people out there that could really use it." Jason's eyebrows furrowed together and he shifted awkwardly between his feet. "I have an appointment next Tuesday."
"And you didn't say no?"
"She made it too hard to say no." The blond bit his lip before shaking his head in shame. "Then she shooed me out the door with a plate of cookies. You have no clue how hard is to talk to her. You think she's so nice, because she acts like the model old-fashioned 40s wife who does nothing but cook and clean and solves problems for you. But she's so…manipulative."
That sounded familiar. Persephone's mother always forced Hazel and Nico to eat cereal when they crossed paths.
"Anyway—" Jason lifted his hands from his sweatshirt and reached for Nico's shoulders. Then stopped. Six inches of space were left before those fingers could make a landing. When Nico looked up, he saw Jason's face twist in curiosity and nervousness.
"Do you…want me to turn?" Nico asked wryly.
"I respect personal boundaries."
"Clearly."
"Ahem," Jason coughed. He shoved his hands back in his hoodie and smiled goofily. "Since I have free time between today and next Tuesday, I was wondering if you would want to go on a date. You know. With me. And if you're done with classes today, we could totally hang out."
Uh. "It's a Wednesday though."
"Is today not a good day for you then?" Jason's entire demeanor faltered, obviously heartbroken.
"No, I mean…" Nico twitched. His brain dubbed this moment to take a vacation and leave him to make a fool of himself. Nico stared back at Jason, unable to feel anything in his vacant head other than absolute embarrassment and fluster.
"So…it's a good time?" Blond eyebrows pinched together.
"No. Yes. Yes. No." Nico held his hands before him, calling a time out and turned toward his sister. "Let me tell Hazel."
"Really?" A grin spread over those lips pleasantly. "Where do you wanna go?"
"Uh…"
-x-
"McDonald's? Really?"
"Shut up, I wanted a Big Mac." Nico instinctively elbowed Jason in the rib. He was met with a rich laugh—then felt a smile curl against his lips. They stood across the street, where the store behind them was closed for the day. Jason kept his hat on to avoid direct sight of bright light, but shed himself of the black hoodie. Nico caught himself staring at those muscles the moment he took it off.
That white complexion definitely looked healthier. That smile almost reached Jason's eyes—which were more distracting than Nico could stand. He couldn't put his finger on it, but the way Jason stared at him was satisfying.
"I can go in there. The light won't bother me." A blond eyebrow pushed into the air while Jason took the cap off his head. "Unless you were just checking me out."
"I think I liked you better when you were concerned for my personal space." Nico snorted. He hesitated before snatching Jason up by the arm and dragging the other boy across the street. There was a yelp—then Nico felt the too-cool touch of Jason's fingers under his palm.
It wasn't a bad sensation, Nico decided. The touch itself felt like something between ice cream on a hot day to snow in your underwear. There was still stuff Nico didn't understand—but from the way Jason described it, he inherited nothing amazingly spectacular and needed to drink blood a lot.
They got into the restaurant with Jason grinning from cheek-to-cheek and Nico hoping he wasn't red from head-to-toe. Jason already looked tired before their food was ready. When his number was called, Nico jumped up and retrieved both their trays.
"You didn't have to do that," Jason said when Nico returned.
The other boy shrugged and shoved the food toward his companion. "You're a lot weaker than you let on."
"It's not that," Jason protested. His voice sounded weak and uncertain. Then, he sat back in his chair and opened up his carton of chicken nuggets. Really—he was getting paler by the second. "I had this planned out more romantically in my head."
"Do tell," Nico mused. He twiddled with a French fry and nibbled on it.
A ragged smile curled over Jason's lips and he shook his head. "I was going to give you some flowers, follow you around so you could get any Wednesday errands out of the way. That kind of stuff. And then maybe go stargazing in the outskirts of the city if both you and I could sit still enough."
"Let's leave. You're not doing yourself any favors staying here." Nico gnawed on three more French fries before grabbing his tray. He was stopped when a hand looped around his wrist.
"No," Jason responded hurriedly. His eyebrows furrowed together. "I really wanted to do this."
Nico hesitated. He looked back to Jason's haggard appearance, trying his best not to look so worried. Jason wasn't making it easy though. But he had to remember—Jason already had twenty-one years of experience dealing with all of this. Probably with lower lows than going on a date in a brightly-lit area for the next two hours.
With a sigh, Nico sat back down and glared at his Big Mac.
Between his eyelashes, he saw a smile curl over Jason's lips.
"When's the last time you had access to blood?"
"That's not really a date question."
"Jason."
"This morning." Jason chewed on his lip before dousing one of his chicken nuggets in ranch. He glared at it and plopped it into his mouth. "Juno…I told you. The whole blood bank thing. She gave me some stored blood, but that's the problem. Stored blood is…different. It's not…"
"A human being?" Nico made sure to keep his voice low. He watched Jason devour the piece of meat thoroughly.
"It's like drinking a watered down, diet pepsi." Wrinkling his nose, Jason took one full sip of his drink and licked his front teeth. From where Nico was sitting in their booth, he could see the faint hint of fangs in his mouth. "I guess my body knows the difference from flesh and plastic. And my conscience just makes it worse. Go figure."
"You ever think you're too much of a good guy?"
"Here and there."
"Then you need to get to Leo soon," Nico speculated. He watched as Jason's eyes squeezed shut from exhaustion. The blond rubbed his forehead and pinched the bridge of his nose, like it would help him focus. "We can go after we're done here. I'll shoot Mitchell a text."
"That would probably be for the best," Jason breathed.
Once the agreement was reached, they ate in silence. Nico thought of all the errands he might as well get done if they were in this part of town and devoured the rest of his Big Mac. There was a project due for Chemistry next week, so Mitchell and he would have to get together eventually to talk and catch up. Jason and he would also have to discuss living arrangements. While the past few weeks had been great together, Jason was probably going to be with his parents permanently soon. Which meant the group would probably be leaving.
"Do you have something against Leo?"
Nico snapped out of his ministrations when he heard a third-party. Jason looked back to him with an upturned eyebrow, uncertain. "What?"
"I…dunno. You just didn't look happy when you mentioned Leo." A frown fell over Jason's lips.
"I don't have a problem with him." Actually, Nico was focusing on schoolwork and living situations. But if they were going to talk about one of the four humans currently cohabitating in Nico's house, then they totally could. Narrowing his gaze, Nico watched Jason watch him. "I mean—I. I am a little confused about where the four of us stand."
"The four of us," Jason repeated. He blinked.
"Well—your friend says that he's acting like a decoy for my friend, but I feel like that's not even the case anymore and you and I had that weird kissing thing a few weeks back, but you were sucking his neck and giving him hickeys even though Mitchell is supplying him with scarves." Nico gasped for air when he was done. He stared at Jason fully, daring not to blink even once. "And now we're on a date."
He expected Jason to mock him and then he mock Jason back, but instead, the blond stared at him strangely—one eyebrow in the air and the other furrowed. Half of Jason's lip curled upward. "'Weird kissing thing'?"
"Shut it."
"What are you—ten?" A full grin graced Jason's lips. He nudged Nico beneath the table and sniggered. "Jeez—I try not to be a dick about it, but I would hope that my kissing you fit higher standards than just, 'weird kissing thing.'"
"Well it does," Nico insisted. He blatantly kicked Jason beneath the table, satisfied with the sudden yelp he received in return, and felt his heart skip a beat once those blue eyes calmed. "Any normal person probably would have shooed you and your friends away if you told them you weren't human."
"True," the blond agreed. His chortles dissipated and he placed his hands on the table. He stared at Nico fully, observing him with fascination that Nico didn't think he deserved. "And yet you didn't."
"And yet I didn't."
"Why?"
"Because we live in New York and I feel stranger things have probably happened while I wasn't looking." Nico sighed. His gaze didn't falter, however, as he studied Jason himself. "And I must be really nice."
It was a mystery why Jason's smile suddenly looked bigger. He fiddled with his fifth nugget and nearly swallowed it whole. "Trust me. You're nicer than most people that I've met."
Nico took the adoration in Jason's eyes to heart. Of the many faces Jason showed him in the past two weeks, it was amazing how someone with a heroic and noble ego could also be humbled in the presence of his friends. Guys like Jason usually didn't give Nico a second look.
"Leo has been my blood partner since I was fifteen." Jason's gaze darted back and forth to see if anyone could hear their conversation—then he continued anyway. "Human blood is fresh. Piper—Sirens are known to lure sailors to their death at sea. We dated for a while, but—drinking her blood was like acid. Almost as bad as me trying to eat garlic."
"I can't believe you tried that."
"It tasted good. You know, until my throat swelled up and I couldn't swallow it." Jason waved his hand dismissively. He let out another heavy breath and rubbed at his eyes. "I think I broke out in zits for a while too. Piper was great, but a relationship wasn't going to work if…fluids were going to get me killed."
Yeah. Nico didn't want to know what fluids were passing between them.
"Leo is the only one in our group who's human. We've made a pact to keep him from getting turned in any form. But…" Jason crinkled his nose. "He helps a lot. Reyna and I have his consent to draw blood from him. And I feel bad, because those marks always take a long time to heal."
"But he's the only one you're confident that you can trust." Because unlike Nico and Leo, other people may try to turn Reyna and Jason into the government or get them killed. "Plus, your inner boy scout won't let you assault and suck blood from innocent people."
"I like to think it's one of my better qualities." Jason pressed a hand to his cheek.
"You make out with Leo beforehand. Reyna doesn't."
"Well that's because—" Jason began the explanation coolly before freezing. He locked eyes with Nico, scrutinizing the other boy like there was an answer hidden between those words. Nico tried his best to look uninterested—this was his way of laying everything out on the table, after all. "Is that what bothers you?"
Nico scoffed and tapped his fingers against his arm. "You asked me out on a date after I've seen you and him get to first base at least three times a week. Forgive me if I'm a little confused."
"And you're jealous?"
"You don't even know if I like you!"
"Well do you?" Jason frowned. "You said yes, didn't you?"
"Of course I like you!" Nico hissed. He just—realized that he had no clue why they were arguing. Did this even count as banter? Twitching, Nico felt himself blush. "I mean—I would. Be interested in having a date that was away from a fast food restaurant. With you."
"You know, you would probably look more approachable if you smiled more."
"And who's the one giving me a headache?" Rolling his eyes with as much emphasis as he could, Nico finished off his French fries and moved onto his burger. When he looked up, the first thing Nico saw was a smile.
"I'm a fourth incubus, remember?" Jason whispered—which put into perspective of how loudly they were discussing Nico's feelings.
The other boy quickly surveyed the restaurant to see if anyone noticed. Luckily, no one cared about the college student regular who usually blended in with the crowd anyway.
"I mean—nothing with Leo happens below the belt. History says incubi usually impregnate women and Leo—is definitely not a woman." The way the blonde's demeanor twisted read, Oh yeah, terrible combination. "And I'm only a fourth incubus. Making out with him is enough to get him off. And at that stage, it's practically a delicacy for me."
"Ah." That made Nico feel a little better.
"But. For us to ever be involved emotionally is completely out the door. Trust me. Neither of us is touching that with a ten foot pole." Jason's eyes flashed thoughtfully before he added, "His words, not mine. You and I have more in common emotionally than he and I do. Technically, if consummation and blood withdrawal were in that same equation as long walks on the beach and intellectual conversation, you'd be the perfect package."
The confidence in Jason's words stuck out to Nico. He blinked while Jason rubbed the exhaustion out of his eyes once more and finished off his chicken nuggets. Against that paling skin, any idiot could obviously see him flushed. An ironic laugh left Nico's throat. "You don't even know if I like you."
Blue irises looked up from the food before them. A smirk curled over Jason's lips and in a higher voice—"Says the guy who came out on a date with me."
"I don't sound like that!"
"Says the guy who—hey!"
Nico plucked one of Jason's French fries and threw it at the taller guy. He grinned while Jason laughed so hard that a snort followed.
"You know—aha—" Jason clutched his nose where the fry hit him, and shook his head. "—I've been living with you for two weeks now. And all I know about you is that you have a sister and you go to school. What are you in school for?"
"Medical field." Once their chortles died out, Nico found himself more full of energy. He sat straight in his seat, watching as his date finished eating. His gaze wandered over his empty tray, and he fiddled with the straw to his drink. "I figure that I've seen so much death in my own family that I could help save lives to make up for them."
Across the table, Jason reached out to loop a hand around Nico's. "That sounds great, man."
"What about you?" Nico felt the cool touch leak through against his skin. Somehow, it was soothing. "Anything you wanna do?"
"Huh." Jason's entire demeanor faltered at that one. He took in a heavy breath—one that looked like it really hurt—and pushed the tray away from him. "When I was younger, I used to hate my parents. I wanted to be an astronaut, so I could literally be on a different planet than them."
Daddy issues were definitely something Nico could understand. "You have any alien friends?"
Jason blinked. "Aliens? Really?"
"What, they don't exist?"
"Probably on the opposite end of exist." Wrinkling his nose, Jason shook his head vehemently. Clearly, Nico was super wrong for mentioning them.
Instinct had Nico's next quip on his tongue. However, it came to his attention how nauseous Jason looked now. Jason was so pale that he was graying like a corpse. His blue eyes were an eerie contrast—vivid as ever with a hint of laughter, but overall, he looked ready to puke. The Jason that Nico met for the first time actually looked better than the one now.
"You're not getting any better," he pointed out. Jason was trying to ignore the problem, but at this point just looked pathetic.
"Yeah," the blond muttered. He pitifully tried to stand up before plopping back in his seat. "Told you packaged blood wasn't that good."
"And I told you we shouldn't come here." Nico ripped out his phone and unzipped his hoodie. Then stopped. He watched Jason, who was now burying his head beneath his hands. "How long can you hold out?"
"Duh-no," the blond slurred airily. "Package…blood in't usually somethin' I haff to deal with. Didn't think…i-i'd burn out…so…quickly."
"Then take mine."
"Wha—? No."
"Jason, it's not like I'm asking for a commitment." Nico rolled his eyes. "C'mon. The sooner we get this fixed, the sooner we can continue our date."
There wasn't an immediate reply. Jason peeked up from the table, still pouting like a wounded animal with eyelids covering a majority of his gaze. "You havin' a good one s'far?"
"Yeah," Nico assured. His lips curled into a smirk as he shook his head in good nature. "I might even let you come home with me tonight."
"Okay—" The blond pushed against the table to stand to his feet. Then fell. Again.
"You are so weird." That being said, Nico stood up and threw his hoodie over Jason's head. "C'mon."
-x-
Jesus Christ—Jason's mouth was cold.
They bumped noses when Nico pulled away out of instinct. He clutched his face while Jason muttered sorrysorrysorry—before cold hands cradled his face. Looking up, Nico's heart skipped a beat. Those blue eyes were bad enough, but they were now staring at his lips with utmost fascination. Gold eyelashes were the only thing keeping Nico from intoxication. Before he could lose himself, Jason kissed him again.
The hoodie was snug over Jason—given he was at least twice Nico's size—but it framed Jason's biceps and tight stomach swimmingly. He gripped Nico by the hips firmly, palms squeezing Nico's hipbones while the shorter boy threw his arms around broad shoulders.
He licked behind Jason's teeth, sucking in the hot breath of chicken nuggets and—ugh, ketchup. (After this was over, they were definitely going to discuss what should and shouldn't be eaten with McDonald's.) The pads of Nico's fingers ran over the cool surface of the back of Jason's neck. A sudden hitch in the blonde's breath made Nico warm, all over, with his cheeks permeating with heat.
"You know," Jason breathed as they parted for only a second, "I pegged you as the flowers and chocolate kinda guy—" His hands slunk beneath the hem of Nico's shirt—who yelped when those cold palms were suddenly against his spine.
The yelp lasted half a pant, before Nico pulled Jason down into another kiss.
"—with a candlelit dinner, violins playing in the background—"
"Why would I want a violinist watch us make out?"
"—and rose petals sprinkled all over the bed," Jason continued. He gasped for air before placing his mouth over the crook of Nico's neck.
"I'm allergic to roses," Nico replied. His entire body was commandeered by sudden pleasure.
"Carnations then," Jason decided, which sounded more like cawnshun's den, and left Nico's skin soaked in slimy drool.
True. Taking all of Nico's past relationships into account—which according to Mitchell narrowed it down to maybe two guys—he was never one for PDA and never had the balls to make out with a boy in an alley between McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts. The kinkiest thing he'd ever done with a guy was wear socks during coitus. (He was pretty sure Travis Stoll actually stole those socks, too—Nico never saw them again.)
Yet here he was, hiding behind a dumpster with his legs practically spread, semi-hard and sucking face with a half-breed demon. People were still out and about, trying to get home or getting to a second job in New York. Even the rats and bugs were scurrying around for food. For someone like Nico, this was the least romantic place he'd ever been in his life.
Then again, Nico couldn't find anything wrong with this situation.
He was about to groan in disgust at the sudden spit on his neck—but all of that judgment went away the moment he felt Jason sucking at the skin. Nico held his breath before moaning. The question on mind—besides the harder, more, please—was why Jason was suddenly prolific before it reminded him, duh, 1/4th incubus, this is probably normal.
There was no nibbling, but Nico found himself propped against Dunkin' Donuts with hands buried in the small of his back. His fingers scurried mid-daze to rip the hoodie off, but it screamed, No! We're staying on!
Jason pulled away, leaving a cool breeze to tickle the damp skin on Nico's neck.
"I must be the worst date ever," he whispered, blue eyes staring at Nico's mouth.
"Buy me flowers later," the shorter boy gasped. He raised his head and met Jason's lips. Nico could handle a date without flowers and chocolate if every guy he ever went out with could kiss as well as Jason did. God did that heat feel good. Jason's crotch pressed against his own—and it clearly shared the same enthusiasm Nico did.
Then, Jason graciously dropped to his knees.
Blinking tenfold, Nico didn't register what Jason was doing until he felt the button of his jeans pop open. "What are you doing?"
"Dunno," Jason mused cheekily. Which was when Nico found his pants in a puddle at his ankles and had fingers fiddling with the end of his boxer-briefs. "Wow—the bat signal glows in the dark."
"They're special-ordered." Nico debated on kicking him.
Before he had the chance to do so, Jason pulled down his boxers and immediately kissed Nico's balls. The light touch sent a tingle through Nico, and he felt it run straight back into his erection. With a shiver, his hands clawed at the brick wall behind him.
Jason gripped the base of Nico's erection, giving it an experimental tug that subdued another mewl from Nico's mouth. Not missing a beat, he straightened out Nico's cock, pumping in slow rhythm before mouthing one of the shorter boy's balls.
He covered it with his own mouth, wet like Nico's shoulder, only better.
Knees buckling beneath him, Nico's hands found their way in Jason's hair. He pushed the hood away from blond hair, coaxing Jason's mouth back to his for a heavy kiss. His Adam's apple bobbed as he took in the sweet taste of Jason's tongue. Cool hands pinched his bare sides, before Jason returned to his current ask.
"God," Nico hissed when he felt himself throb.
Close to full length, Jason covered all of Nico's pride. He squeezed pale balls, humming in satisfaction. The gesture sent a jitter up to Nico's pounding heart while Jason licked the base of his cock. Whoa.
"Feel good?" Jason murmured.
"So good," Nico agreed—voice strained.
Moments later, Jason slicked the precum leaking from Nico's slit down his cock, around the saliva. He flicked his wrist over the erection, then hiked Nico's shirt upward to plant a kiss on the shorter boy's bare stomach.
Nico fell back into the wall. He choked as a hand squeezed one of his ass cheeks—which quickly turned into a mewl. Jason's other hand gripped the base of Nico's cock, and the taller boy bobbed to take in the head. Buckling his hips, Nico nearly came.
Which of course, was what Jason was going for. The feverish heat from his touch made Nico flush, warm and glistening with energy beneath skin. Beads of sweat trickled down his forehead, around the contour of his cheeks, and fell. He wiped his face on his shirt, with a keen whimper falling from his lips.
God, it felt so good, with Jason's hand around him, mouth on him, fingers parting him and—
A slick finger pushed its way into his ass, past the ridge of muscle that usually kept it closed. It didn't hurt—but Nico definitely wasn't expecting it. How Jason managed to coat his fingers in saliva without Nico noticing, the latter hadn't a clue.
At the familiar gesture, his cock throbbed ten times harder. Jason sucked at Nico's erection with a loud SLURP, and another whimper knotted in the younger boy's throat. Another wet finger followed the one already in his ass. A tiny burn came from being stretched but it felt like a knick compared to the mouth that was covering him.
The heat was almost too amazing to bear. By Jason's grip alone, he kept from falling over from weak knees and felt a tongue cover the head of his cock before Jason pulled off and sucked further and deeper.
One of the two fingers found his prostate. Nico rocked forward with a deaf gasp, his hands once again finding Jason's head, and gave blond hair one harsh jerk.
"So good," he mumbled. "So good, so good—oh my god—"
Three fingers thrust against his prostate, while his cock found the end of Jason's throat. Again, Jason pulled back before going deeper, one hand up Nico's ass and the other squeezing his balls. White stars blinded Nico's sight while his legs gave way—
He barely had time to warn Jason. The blonde reeled back, apparently feeling the violent pulse of Nico's cock. Instead of pulling back altogether, he gripped the boy more tightly—and Nico had a mouth to catch his cum when he came with a heavy shudder.
Eyes squeezing shut when he felt himself shoot into Jason's mouth, it took him eons to open them again.
When he did, he was met with the sight of Jason, open-mouthed, with cream dripping down those pale lips. Blue eyes looked up with the moon in their irises. Then—Jason swallowed it all.
Nico watched Jason's Adam's apple bob as the blond licked his lips. He stared at the other boy in surprise—and, post-orgasm, didn't have time to say anything.
Half a second later, Jason pinned him to the wall and kissed him. The taste of his own spunk was in Nico's mouth, salty and sweet at the same time as Jason nibbled on his bottom lip. Kissing back in a daze, Nico barely registered his lip slitting again until the taste of blood entered his mouth.
Jason sucked on it dry, taking in every ounce of red syrup that he could, with hands still roaming Nico's body.
"Thanks," he murmured softly against Nico's cheek.
He nosed down the curvature of the younger boy's face before resting his mouth against Nico's neck once more. Teeth sunk into Nico's neck—to which he did whine again—and sliced his skin open. Then—all he felt was some more slurping.
The feeling was indescribable. Nico couldn't relate it to anything else in his life, but it was as if Jason was drinking everything from orgasm and post-climax to lull him into exhaustion.
After that, there was nothing else.
Sleep, Nico thought. He really needed sleep.
-x-
The way back home was a little fuzzy. Nico was pretty sure he walked maybe two steps of it before Jason opted to carry him like a child. That was fine—because Jason's hair was against his cheek and the musk of what they had done was all he smelled. His neck hurt like hell afterwards, but the exhaustion post-bloodsucking seemed to work like a painkiller.
He asked dully if Jason needed some relief too, but one scrumptious chuckle later told Nico No, Jason was pretty much perfect.
"I'm gonna pants you some day," Nico muttered soon after that. He channeled his inner Percy, babbling things that sounded ridiculous even to himself. His body was so sluggish that once he closed his eyes, Nico gave up trying to open them again.
After that, he felt like he slept for days.