as always, i didn't beta this and ended up making it longer than intended. i don't have a song and i blame jason bc all his chapters so far ended up being fillers and i HAVE ZERO SONGS FOR THIS. a lot for nico though

Jason wanted to see Nico again. But, like he'd talked about with Piper, he waited two days. He texted and he tried to learn new things about Nico. Surprisingly, he'd learnt that his favorite color isn't actually black. Jason was almost in denial; the amount of black that kid wore would've said otherwise. It turned out to be a sunset orange, and Jason found that quite soothing.

He also learned that Nico's favorite TV shows were either sitcoms or crime shows. They'd connected on Friends, the Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Criminal Minds, Castle, the works. Nico liked many bands, and Jason had taken the liberty to listen to them all. Some were...a little more hardcore than Jason thought he could stand, but others were actually pretty good. When he told Nico the ones he liked, he had told him that Jason was into some of the classics.

On the second day, Jason called Nico.

"Nico?" Jason asked, fiddling with the hem of his shirt as he leaned against the wall adjacent to his bed.

"That's who you called, isn't it?" Nico scoffed sarcastically but was that a trace of a laugh? Couldn't be. Right?

"Yup!"

"Kay. Then why."

"Well, Nico. I was thinking of organizing a little dinner party tonight and was wondering if you wanted to help."

"Must I?"

"Well we can't very well become good friends if we never hang out."

"Who said I wanted to become good friends with you?"

Jason placed a ginger hand atop his heart, even though he very well knew that Nico couldn't see him. He spluttered dramatically, like a fish out of water. "I-buh-well! You have wounded me! I will have you know, that I am one of the best friends you could ever get. And though you deny it verbally, I'm sure you don't mentally. I mean, who could resist me?" Jason said jokingly.

"Oh, dear. Looks as if I was right. You're just a dumb, narcissistic blonde jock," Nico retorted back.

"I hope you don't really mean that, Nico. I may never recover if you do."

Jason heard Nico scoff and imagined he would be rolling his eyes at this point. But he took that as Nico's version of laughing. "Whatever, Grace. So what of this little dinner party you mentioned?"

Jason's smile widened. Nico was letting him in. "Well, since we are on winter break, we might as well make it Christmas themed-" Jason stopped as he heard Nico mutter something on the other line that sounded a bit like, "cliche" before smiling and continuing. "and we can watch a movie later or something. Nothing big; just close friends. With good food and snacks and fun times. Y'know. Make it as cliche as we can," Jason said with a smirk.

"Sounds horrible. I wouldn't want to go."

"Good. That means the others will."

"Good one, Grace. Pick me up in ten. We'll go shopping," Nico said before hanging up. Jason felt strangely happy, because it seemed Nico was getting to be more friendly with him. Jason stood up and walked quickly down the steps of his house, grabbing his keys and jacket on the way and walking briskly into the frigid air.

Jason pulled to a stop in front of Nico's house and turned the engine off. He fumbled with his phone in an attempt to call Nico and tell him he was here, but the ravenette seemed to have beat him to it. Jason looked outside the window when he heard a door open and close crisply. The blonde took in mentally how big the di Angelo house actually was. It looked more like a mansion.

Jason smiled as Nico made his way across his lawn and hopped into the pickup. "Waiting for me, were you?" Jason smirked, starting his car again. Nico said nothing as he scrunched his eyebrows together slightly, breathing silently as if he were a secret agent in a James Bond movie. The music was pumping softly through the old radio in the truck and Jason froze as well, wondering what Nico was doing.

After about half a minute, Nico became animated again. He nodded his head in what seemed like approval and gave Jason a thumbs up. "Good. You're learning," he commented. "And I'll have you know, I wasn't waiting for you. I simply knew you were coming and saw your truck pull up. How do you miss something like this? It's a wreck."

Jason laughed heartily at Nico's observation. "Hey, don't insult my baby girl! She's a precious old friend! You're going to offend her."

Nico scoffed before pulling a folded up piece of paper out. "I wrote a few things that you'll probably need. And if you need to, we can host it at my house. It's surely big enough."

"Are you sure? I'd feel bad. I don't want to make you do something like that."

"It's fine. The house gets pretty lonely with just me and Hazel living there."

"Okay, thanks," Jason said. He was actually glad it would be at Nico's house. Jason's house was pretty big, sure, but his mother and father weren't the warmest people. Jason could hardly stand them and he sure as hell wouldn't want his friends exposed to them with their brooding faces, harsh comments, and high expectations that Jason did everything correctly.

Nico nodded as if to say, "you're welcome". "So you'll need snacks of course. And if we're making it cliche, get chips and salsa. You could also do pigs in a blanket. Some doritos, too. For dinner we could have salad, some main entree like ham or something, and sides. Mashed potatoes, cooked vegetables. And a grand desert."

"Wow, Nico. You seem to know a lot about what to get." Nico shrugged. "There is one problem, though. I don't...I don't really know how to cook," Jason said, rubbing the nape of his neck embarrassingly.

Nico rolled his eyes. "I was counting on that. Don't worry. I'll take care of it. But we should probably head out now. We should also probably let everyone know and see who can make it." Jason nodded. He quickly punched in his password and gave Nico his phone.

"You can send out a text in a group chat."

Nico nodded. He went to the messages app and began scrolling through Jason's contacts. Jason began on the route to the nearest grocery store. Halfway there, Nico spoke up. "Okay, so I have Leo, Reyna, Piper, Hazel, Frank, P...Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase." Nico seemed to stumble over Percy's name. Jason swallowed thickly.

"Sounds good."

Nico read the text he began to make out loud: "'I'm having a cliche, shitty-ass dinner party tonight and you're all invited! Woo. Fun. Cliche everything included. It'll be great. - Jason.' Sound okay?"

Jason shook his head and laughed. "No, Debby Downer. If you text that out, nobody's going to want to come. How about: 'I'm having a dinner party tonight for Christmas and want you all to come. We'll have dinner and dessert and watch some movie or something. If you can come, get back to me!'"

"Ew. Fine. Whatever, Grace. I think mine was better, but oh well," Nico remarked as he deleted his previous invite and typed what Jason had provided. They pulled up to the store and Jason shut off the engine again, getting out of the car. They made a short trek across the parking lot and shuffled into the store. Jason grabbed a cart.

"Piper and Reyna said they could make it. They also asked where it was. Should I just give them my address?"

"Yeah. Say it's your house, too," Jason said as he walked through the automatic sliding doors and pushing the cart along. The wheels rolled against the hard tile noisily. He walked into the produce section first.

"Okay. Nico. I have no idea what we need."

Nico scoffed again and started ahead of the blonde, giving him the phone on the way. "You man that," he instructed. "and leave the shopping to me." Jason nodded and looked down to see that Leo had responded as well.

Leo: a party you say? well i guess i have to come. it's never a party without a valdez there. and im the only valdez you know. so i'll be there. what time?

Jason laughed at his best friend. Typical Leo response.

Jason: About 5 i'd say. I'd have to check with Nico.

Leo: nico? nico di angelo?

Jason: Yeah, he's helping 2

Leo: really. didn't know you guys were friends now

Jason: Kinda. We just recently started hanging out. But he knows about cooking so I'm glad he's helping

Leo: i'm glad now 2. if you were cooking...i get shivers at the thought

Jason: Shut up, Valdez

Leo sent a devil face emoji and Jason counterattacked with the emoji that was rolling its eyes.

Leo: okay. i'll be there then. bye jace. have fun with ur new "friend" ;)

Jason shook his head and looked up to see Nico coming back with an armful of vegetables. He saw peas, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and green beans. He also had a bag of potatoes, a bag of lettuce, some tomatoes, and picked up some weird nut things.

"Leo can come," Jason informed the raven haired teen. "I told him that it would be at around five tonight. That okay?" Nico gently relived his load into the cart.

"Yeah, that's fine. Now we're going to need a main dish. What do you want? Turkey, ham, chicken? Tofu?" Nico actually smiled at the last option, and Jason laughed at Nico's joke. He almost missed it from the reeling shock that Nico di Angelo just smiled at Jason. It wasn't a sneer, but a smile. Well, it looked a bit like a smirk as well, but Jason would take it.

"Ham is the most cliche choice, so let's go with that."

"Ham it is," Nico agreed as he made his way over to the frozen and dairy aisles. Jason followed behind. Nico picked a relatively big ham and set it down in the cart with another package of meat. He also grabbed a couple blocks of cheese. He went down the aisles, grabbing a ton of different things. Half of them, Jason had no indication of what they were. He got several other texts and learned that everyone could be in attendance for the dinner party except for Frank and Hazel who hadn't replied yet.

By the time they were finished, Nico had filled up most of the cart. Jason pushed it to a register as Nico pulled out his wallet and fished some bills out. Jason frowned. "What are you doing?" he asked as they both began to load all of their items onto the conveyor belt.

"Well, Jason," Nico began slowly, as if he were talking to a kid. "When you buy things, you have to pay for them. If you don't-"

"That's not what I meant, idiot. I meant why are you paying?"

"Because I'm the one who filled the cart to the brink. I'm not gonna let you pay."

"Too bad, bub. Build a bridge, and get over it."

Jason laughed. "C'mon, dude. Let me pay."

"No."

"Nico."

"Alright, fine."

Jason smiled as they finished loading the last of the items onto the belt to be checked out. Jason wormed his way to the end and began to bag everything. When it came to pay, the total was $157.86. Jason was in the midst of getting his wallet out when Nico handed over a wad of money including one hundred dollar bill, a fifty, and a ten. "Keep the change," Nico said as he began to lift the bagged items into the cart again.

"Nico!" Jason protested,

"Did you really think I'd let you pay? Idiot." Nico smiled a little again.

The teenage girl behind the cash register giggled. "I'm sorry. You two are so cute. How long have you been together, if you don't mind me asking?"

Jason felt the heat rise to his cheeks and was about to start blabbering about how no they weren't together they were just friends and-

"We're not together," Nico said, smile fading.

"Oh," the girl said, blushing. "I'm very sorry, sir."

"it's fine. You didn't know." The girl went back and began to check out the next customer and Nico and Jason walked away, rolling the cart back to the car. Jason looked behind him and wait, was that a blush on Nico's face?

The car ride back to Nico's was relatively silent, save for the quiet music playing from the rock station. They got out of the car and grabbed all the bags before making their way across the large, green lawn and into Nico's mansion-house. They set the bags down on the counter when they got in.

Nico turned on all the lights he could and illuminated their large kitchen area. Jason immediately noticed that the TV was on, and Frank and Hazel were curled up on top of the couch with a blanket thrown over top of them.

"Nico?" Hazel asked.

"Yeah," he replied before making his way over to the living room. He cocked his head and raised an eyebrow at their position. Jason craned his neck to see what was happening. Poor Frank looked like a deer caught in a pair of headlights. Jason guessed Nico was kind of intimidating to him, even though the guy was like a freaking bear and two years older than Nico.

"What's up?" Hazel asked, speaking as though she didn't think anything of how she and her boyfriend were sitting.

"Nothing much," Nico continued. His suspicious face didn't dissipate, and neither did Frank's anxiety did it seem.

Hazel leaned forward, noticing that Jason was watching them. "Hi, Jason!" she said sweetly, sliding a hand from underneath the blanket and waving at the blonde. Jason smiled and waved back. He always did like Hazel.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked, looking back at her brother.

"Didn't you get the text?"

"No? We left our phones in my room."

"Oh." Nico raised his eyebrows again as if to say "What were you doing in your room?"

Hazel narrowed her eyes as if to remark back, "We didn't do anything, Nico. Jeez, you're going to scare Frank even more."

Jason guessed Nico had understood by the way his eyes sparkled, telling Hazel, "Good." Hazel stuck her tongue out at him.

"What are you doing here, then?" Hazel asked.

"We're having a dinner party here tonight. I need to start cooking. We just finished shopping."

"Awesome!" Hazel replied, eyes glistening. Jason maybe thought that she was happy because Nico was actually doing something. "Do you need us to get out of your way?"

"No, you're fine. We're just going to start, if you don't mind."

"Nope! Have fun. Looking forward to your cooking, as always, Nico!"

Frank remained silent, blushing furiously. Nico smirked at him and walked away, meeting back up with Jason. The blonde spoke in an undertone. "You're evil, Nico."

"I know." He walked to the stove and began to prepare all the food. He turned the stove on and preheated the oven, listing what he was doing to Jason as he took out several different cooking instruments and spices. He then asked Jason to do various jobs for him. Grate the cheese, mash the potatoes, cut the tomatoes. Jason did the small, easy jobs, as Nico took on the big tasks. Increasingly, the kitchen was filled with a delicious scent of food wafting throughout the entire house. Jason's stomach began to grumble smelling all the different food Nico was conjuring up. Nico seemed to notice this.

"I'm sorry, you're probably hungry. Would you like anything?"

"No, it's okay I-" he stopped as his stomach grumbled again. Nico laughed lightly.

"I'll make you something."

"No, it's fine. You already have enough on your hands."

"It's really okay, Jason. Everything has to cook for some time now. We have a few hours before everyone starts to come. What would you like?"

"Anything really."

"Well, we have a lot of leftover tomatoes...have any food allergies?"

"No."

"Great," Nico said as he reached into a lower cabinet in the kitchen. "Help yourself to a drink from the fridge, Jason," Nico instructed as he pulled out a griddle. He grabbed an extra tomato and brought out some basil. Jason nodded and made his way over to the fridge, grabbing a small pitcher of lemonade. "Hey, Jason?"

"Yeah?"

"While you're in there, could you grab me a few things?"

"Sure, what to you need?" Jason replied, setting the beverage on the island behind him.

"In the top drawer there should be some mozzarella cheese and on the bottom shelf there's a bag of bread. Get that for me, will ya?'

Jason did as he was told, bringing it to Nico. "The cups are in the far cabinet over there," Nico said, pointing with his free hand before grabbing what he had asked for. Jason got a cup and poured himself a glass of lemonade.

After ten more minutes, there was a plate with a wondrous smelling panini. "Bon appetite," Nico said. Jason thanked him and his stomach twisted into knots at the smell. It looked absolutely delicious. He took a bite, relishing in the taste. It was better than anything he had ever tasted. Before he knew it, he had finished the entire thing, feeling completely content.

"Jesus, Nico. Where'd you learn to cook like this? That was the best thing I think I've ever tasted."

Nico bit his lip. "Well, after my mom died and my dad left with his new wife. I learned to cook a lot because I needed to make food for me and Hazel. After that, I picked up some skills. Glad you liked it."

"Are you going to eat anything?"

Nico froze. "Uh, I'm really not hungry. I've been cooking for a few hours, and I feel full. I'll eat later tonight."

Jason narrowed his eyes; it had been three hours since Nico had eaten anything. Jason hoped he was okay. Not getting sick or anything. "Okay," he said hesitantly.

Nico turned away as a beeping sounded out. Nico threw on some oven mitts and opened the oven before pulling out three trays of pigs-in-a-blanket. The crust was a perfect golden brown. Nico really was an amazing cook.

Nico went back to close the oven and made a circle around the island, grabbing Jason's plate on the way. He picked up a spatula and scooped one of the orderves onto his plate before returning it and getting another plate from the cabinet. He scooped two onto it and brought them over to Hazel and Frank. "Try it in a few minutes, guys. Let them cool."

Jason nodded and watched as Nico returned to resume cooking. He slid out his phone and looked at the time. 4:19. They had a little more time before everyone showed up. Jason looked at the appetizer and picked it up, blowing on it. Then he took a small bite. The taste exploded on his tongue and he smiled. Suddenly Nico was behind Jason, tapping him on the shoulder, making Jason jump a little. Nico rolled his eyes. "How is it?" he asked.

"Really good, Jesus Christ, Nico."

"Good," Nico replied, taking a set next to the blonde. "The ham still has to cook."

Jason nodded, happy that Nico was finally getting a rest from all the cooking. "Thanks, Nico."

"For what?"

"For this."

Nico cocked his head and Jason closed his eyes, a smile on his face.

"Why are you smiling, idiot?"

"No reason."

there was zero angst but a little more bonding. i ended up cutting the part i wanted to get to, but you'll get that next chapter in Nico's POV ;) leave thoughts if you so choose to