Hello everyone and welcome back. I'm sorry it took so long to get this update in because my laptop broke right when I finished this chapter. Since it was around Christmas the library wasn't really open with computers and Starbucks was super packed. But, it's all good with a new laptop now. I hope all ya'll demigods and immortals like this chapter and give me criticism where you think I should work in a PM or good ol' fashion review. I take everything into consideration. I love you all. :)

3rd Person POV

The boy was so, luring that Nico left the house in the early mornings to get a head start on his alone time at the beach. The seclusion was the best part of the whole morning because those who came early to surf didn't come to bother him and he could sneak long lasting looks at Perseus without being caught. These quiet mornings were just filled with Percy just mostly taking in the morning while trying to wake up. It gave time for Nico to quietly observe the little habits the Sea Prince had acquired over time. The way his nose scrunched up when he yawned, or that each time he went to take a sip of his caffeinated beverage that would end up over his shirt, which conclusively always ended up in the boy taking his shirt off, or . . . shit. . . now he just sounded like a stalker. The Ghost Prince couldn't help but continuing his research of his siren each day. Sure, it seemed creepy for others, however for him it ended up being his past time in trying to figure out he would make the boy his. Nicolas always had to have a plan before he went after his prey.

The time went as fast as it had come, but this made Nico's advances much harder when the ditzy, stupid, pretty girls would horde what would be his. Perfect, now not only did he sound like a creeper, but also a fucking possessive bastard that claimed Percy without even speaking a word to him. The only sickeningly cute thing about the whole obsession by the girls was the reaction the Sea Prince gave them of being nice, yet he was kindly putting them down and declining little favors the *femmine folli* had done for him countless times without being asked. Truthfully, Nico mainly loathed them because they could do what he didn't have the balls to do . . .

Talk to him.

While all the *sempliciotti* were running around completing the tasks for his affection, Nico took the opportunity to set his plan into motion. Step one: Go fucking talk to him, Pansy! He was still in his black skinny jeans, Black Veil Bride band t-shirt, black converse, and aviator jacket. He may be in the blazing hot heat of California; however he still needed his own style out of the norm of the blasted Californian fashion of board shorts and white tank tops. He was also uncomfortable with how small his figure was. All the other guys were buffed up more and tan while he was just as pale as a ghost and had mediocre sized muscles. This usually gave others the thought that he was an easy target and therefore ended up with bloody noses with a few bruises. Whereas he ended up with a few cuts or scrapes and maybe a few bruises. Unfortunately, all the brutes finally caught on and started beating him to a bloody pulp in groups. Then, the name calling would consist along the lines of: weak, short, and his favorite. . .

Faggot.

Nico wasn't "out of the closet" to everyone yet. He had of course told his close friends, but no one else. They only called him that vile name because he had to use make-up to cover up all the battle scars from the beasts. His sister Bianca noticed her foundation running out faster than usual, but only thought she had been using more.

The Ghost Prince was strutting over to "his" Sea Prince to overcome his fear of rejection as he was intercepted by his two best friends, the world's best cock blockers, Octavian and Luke.

"Hey Nico, what are you doing here?!"

"You know exactly what I'm doing here and if you continue to draw attention to me, I swear I wi-"

"You'll what exactly? I distinctly remember being able to beat you in our wrestling matches. Besides, your little eye-candy is looking over here and trying to check out what you are really trying not to show off." With that last syllable, Luke smacked his ass as hard as he could and said,

"I'd seriously tap this if you weren't so intrigued with Mr. Lifeguard over there."

Then, Octavian sorrowfully and dramatically spoke,

"I guess we will be going into the surf while our friend so kindly leaves us behind in the dust for his love interest."

As they both started walking away, Nico sauntered over to his prize knowing full well that he would have to make up for this later. When he finally arrived at the Lifeguard Tower, it looked as if all the girls just gave up on him.

"Percy! Where'd all your admirers go?"

Mentally, Nico smacked himself in the forehead because that was not at all how he wanted his first ever conversation with the siren to go. Although, he must have startled Percy because he fell out of his seat at the top; noticing his fault, Nico ran under the falling prince catching him. At least he made a lasting first conversation impression on the boy because Percy seemed to be blushing in the arms of the short, pale apple of his eye.

Percy POV

Fuck, he had been caught sleeping on the job and thought that he was for sure going to be fired within the first week of his job, but no. It had to be the one guy he had been admiring since his 8th grade year when he had had the unfortunate dating experience with Annabeth Chase. She had of course been the smartest girl in his year and always showed him up in Everything. She. Did. Whether it be sports or intellectual she had always outgunned him. Then, she had decidedly to tell him straight up that she had a crush on him and only outshined him to get his attention. Admiringly, she did just that. He called it a trial period and actually got to know her, while she just told everyone that they were dating. The more he got to know Annabeth, the more he knew that he was not attracted to her. The more that he realized he in general just didn't like girls, was also the moment he confessed to Annabeth that he only thought of her as a close friend. She agreed with him because frankly they didn't share the same interests. Where he was interested in Marine Biology and the ocean, she was enthralled in architecture and psychology. After that, they just hung out more and eventually, Percy ended up telling her that he was gay. He didn't get the exact reaction that he was expecting, but instead he got,

"Come on Seaweed Brain, I could have told you that before you even noticed."

This in itself made Percy feel better about having Annabeth close to him, yet it now consisted of talks most girls would have together about which boys were cute and which ones were just to die for. This also ended up being around the time Percy was becoming infatuated with the dark haired, pale body of Nico diAngelo. At his point in time, the younger and smaller boy was obsessed with Mythomagic and Greek mythology, which Percy thought was just too adorable. Nico's sister was Bianca diAngelo, who just so happened to be his senior and always heard about her annoying little brother. The "little brat" who was attached to his sister's hip at all costs and enraptured in his own world of Greek history. The more she droned on and on about the boy, the more Perseus wanted to speak with him. But with a series of unfortunate events concerning Nico, he wasn't able to since the family moved to a different country. It wasn't until this year did the boy come back.

He changed in so many ways, yet Percy still felt that tug towards him. He still remembered the introvert, happy boy that played with his Greek action figures and annoyed the living hell out of his sister by being too adorable. Now, the boy was older and even leaner than before. Nico had completely transformed into this older, depressed, and totally sexy teenager. His bangs went right above his left eye and had this whole new mystery complex going on, where he wouldn't talk to anyone else and disappear for the entire lunch period. Percy once tried following him in secret, nevertheless when he rounded a corner, he was gone.

Along the few years, Percy strived to get closer to the boy, as he would go to the same places and hang out with the guy's friends, yet he was evaded by the boy. He tried starting up a conversation with him and each time Nico would just look away to avoid the entire meet.

The Sea Prince never had anyone dislike him before and couldn't handle that the one person he absolutely had to have was the only one who seemed completely uninterested in anything he had to say. It was like sailing and when you see your destination of choice, yet you can never seem to get any closer, even though you're still moving towards it. Then, with all the girls that just seemed to pile on year after year for him just caused his crush to move even farther away. He couldn't of course just tell all of them that because he was just a nice person. Even if someone decided to pick on him (which never happened because he was too likeable), he couldn't even truly seem to even dislike them. His mother always told him that throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let the Gods deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too. Neither of them ever could truly dislike someone else because of how they treated others. They always had open arms and found that each person had a reason to do such things and didn't learn how to let it out. That was why Sally had become the school's psychiatrist.

"Each child is going through their own hard times right now and don't have anyone to vent to. Some may have trust issues and bordered up themselves with walls to protect themselves from anymore harm. I feel like that's my job to help them know that there is always going to be someone that is going to be willing to listen. I hope you understand this Percy." Of course Percy understood his mother's thinking because that was how he was raised to think. Every individual was different and some like Nico were bordered up to keep the pain out. But the thing about pain is it demands to be felt. He just wanted to huggle and cuddle the teen and have him tell his life story and share hardships together. Gods that sounded like the sappiest thing ever. He was spending way too much time with Annabeth now. But, now, he was in the arms of the pale Adonis. This wasn't how he wanted to spark up a conversation. Nevertheless, it would have to work.

"Umm… hello Nico, do you think you could possibly set me down."

As soon as the words slipped from his mouth, he regretted them because of the nice warm feeling of the other thin but muscular body. Slowly, he was set down and it seemed as though he had scared the boy to death.

Fuck.

3rd Person POV

Nico was speechless when the green eyed boy spoke to him. He complied with his wishes of being on firm ground, while inside screaming that he was able to touch him. All words were being swallowed and stuck in his throat when silence ensued after the spoken words. The Ghost Prince was just about to leave when Percy grabbed his arm and spun him back around till they were nose to nose. Both briefly blushed as they took in the other's natural scent secretly. Percy had smelt of vanilla and the ocean which was now going to be Nico's favorite smell, while Nico had the aroma of old books and dirt that attracted Perseus. They side-stepped away from one another and avoided eye contact that let the awkwardness continue till Percy was able to breathe normally again.

"Nico, would you like to possibly go get a coffee with me or something, so that this" As he gestured to the recent turn of events, "won't continue happening all day?" Percy chuckled a bit when Nico's eyes glimmered at his name only because he thought it looked absolutely adorable like a hippocampi.

Stuttering Nico replied with, "S-sure. Um, shouldn't you be keeping watch on the beach though?"

"Nico, if I was able to sleep on the first week on the job without any problems happening, won't I just be able to run and go get a quick coffee with you with no accidents?"

"I-I suppose you're right…"

"Awesomesauce! Come one, I need something keeping me awake."

Percy took Nico's hand as he started towards the small coffee hut, where Annabeth was working. Nico took notice of two things as Percy let go of his hand: one was Percy freaking Jackson was holding his hand! And two was Percy's girlfriend Annabeth was the barista at the coffee hut. He didn't have anything against the girl; it was just that he liked her boyfriend while they were dating. He always saw the little pecks on the cheeks and hugs that were constantly given to each other. It was like My Little Pony cute. Percy was chatting up a storm with the girl until he finally noticed he had left Nico standing awkwardly off to the side as his right arm went on his left shoulder and left arm on his right waist. Gods, Percy was terrible at this sort of getting to know each other part. Always forgetting something because his mind was everywhere from the side effect of his ADHD. Unfortunately, he also had dyslexia, so Annabeth had always ordered for him and didn't even bother in asking Nico for his order. The Ghost Prince was standing off staring at his feet till he saw a shadow towering over him. All at once, Percy had lifted up his chin and spoke in that sexy, deep voice of his, "Are you okay? I'm really sorry that I didn't ask for your preference, I just wasn't thinking like the stupid seaweed brain I am. Do you like coffee?" He finished very breathy because of the severity of his worry of possibly making the boy despise him even more than he already did.

"Coffee is fine Kelp Head. Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself. I don't like being cared for like I'm some pathetic little kid." Nico stared at Percy with angst of being left by himself again.

"No! Nico look at me." Percy grabbed the sides of Nico's face, trying to make eye contact with his beautiful brown eyes.

"You aren't pathetic in any way possible. I didn't mean for what I said to come off that way, it's just that, yeah, I have a bit of ADHD and my brain is really wierd all the time, which in a way forces me to forget things like how to ask people for their orders. Damn, I would be a bad waiter if that happened."

Nico just smiled at Percy because of the joke he made at his own expense. It was cute how flustered the guy got when he was talking as he was worried about not getting his order right. They grabbed their coffees and headed on back to the beach without a word to pass between them, it was to say in the least, a comfortable silence. They spent the next couple of hours watching the girls run around, searching for Percy as the two hid in Nico's usual spot. After a couple of hours, they decided that Percy had to get back to actually working, preferably before someone died. As they slowly walked over to the tower, Percy turned to face Nico,

"Hey. . . So umm. . . Today was great."

" Yeah, I guess it was." The Sea Prince looked as if he was shot in the stomach ten times then gutted like a fish.

"Oh. I would like to do it again sometime. . . if you don't mind." Nico looked into the depths of Percy's sea green eyes and spoke barely above a whisper,

"So would I."

Then, quickly, without another word spoken. Nico kissed his Raven on the cheek and slipped something into his hand. Percy was still shocked by the kiss and by the time he was going to say something, the raven haired boy slipped away, into the shadows. Perseus checked his hand and found a small piece if paper within it. Scrawled on it were ten digits that left him in wonderful bliss.