Meanwhile Percy was continuing work on the new camp. They had fallen behind and he was feeling stressed. He wasn't satisfied with the name that had been chosen, but "Camp West" was the only name that the majority agreed on. He looked at the sign and sighed. He reserved the right to change it as soon as he thought of a better name. He looked at his watch and sighed again. Nico said he'd be there by now. School was finally out for the summer, and Nico had promised to be around more. Percy understood that Nico liked his space, though, so he wasn't expecting his boyfriend to be around 24/7. He was excited for Nico to show up today, though. He had finished the Hades cabin and hadn't even told his lover that he was building it. Suddenly Cameron was coming toward him. The blonde had become something of a friend to both Percy and Nico. Sometimes he didn't know when to leave, though, so Percy was never sure if he was glad to see the guy or not.
"Hey." Cameron said, "Is Nico here yet?"
Percy shook his head, "Nope."
"That's too bad. He knows he's supposed to be coming today, right?"
"Yeah."
"You guys talking about me?" the two heard Nico's voice as he emerged from a shadow cast by the large camp sign. Percy quickly walked to meet him and hugged him. "Sorry I'm late," he said, "I got into a lengthy conversation with Arachne."
"Spiders scare me." Cameron piped in and the two looked at him.
"Well, Arachne's a woman as far as I'm concerned." Nico said, "Anyway, I'm going to put my stuff in your room." he gave Percy a quick peck and left toward the Poseidon cabin. Percy watched him leave, and from the corner of his eye he saw Cameron watching him too. The blonde had a bad habit of staring with Nico, and it didn't go unnoticed by Percy. Percy wasn't too concerned, though. He trusted Nico enough.
"He seems in a pretty good mood so far." Cameron mentioned as they both started toward the cabin to meet back up with Nico.
"Yeah. We'll see if that continues when the campers show up and figure out who he is." Percy answered and then stopped walking. "Um, do you mind if I just hang out with Nico for a while?"
Cameron stopped walking too and looked down sheepishly, "Oh... yeah, no problem. I have to see how the canoes are going, anyway." he said, quickly turning and leaving. Percy just continued walking to his cabin. Sometimes he felt bad for having to tell Cameron to go away, but other times he really didn't understand what Cameron's problem was. When he got to the cabin Nico was leaning on the frame of the open door, waiting for him. Percy felt like a dork because looking at Nico had him suddenly unable to feel his knees. It was early summertime, but Nico was wearing a large black hoodie. The darkness of the sweater brought out the contrasting brightness of his lover's skin and made his dark stare more noticeable. The sun was caught in the large waves of Nico's black hair, shining off the the dark locks in a strange, angelic way. Nico bit his lip.
"You make me nervous when you stare like that."
Percy swooned again, but played it cool by grabbing onto the railing of the steps up to his cabin. He loved how Nico still had no idea what kind of power he held over the son of Poseidon.
"I'm glad you came alone." Nico spoke again. He sounded older, somehow.
"Me too."
Nico grabbed the other man by the shoulder of his shirt and pulled him into the cabin.
Cameron was bored. He was running out of things to do at the camp. The few campers there had already claimed the place as their second home, but it was more like a boarding house than a camp at this point. He kicked at the dirt, not wanting to play babysitter to them right now. Finally he walked over to the Poseidon cabin. Nico and Percy had had enough alone time together. It was his turn to share the attention. He knocked on the door, courteous enough not to barge in. Nico answered it, nodding his greeting as he wiped his mouth with a tissue. Cameron looked past him to see Percy buckling his pants and the blonde's face flushed, realizing the action he had just missed. Nico smirked knowingly and pushed past Cameron, who turned and followed Nico down the steps, Percy following closely behind.
x.x.x
Nico was sitting on the roof of his cabin. His feet nearly touched the ground, as the majority of the cabin was beneath it. Percy had been very clever with his choice of making the cabin like a basement home; it was private and similar to his underworld room, with little possibility of being vandalized. Still, Nico preferred to be out in the fresh air most of the time. A body sat next to him and he looked over to see Cameron. His stomach turned a little. Lately something about Cameron was bothering Nico, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was, so he ignored it for the most part.
"You smell like dirt." the blonde said.
"Percy likes it." Nico replied, used to the other man's blunt comments. He was one who often didn't think before speaking.
"Yeah..." Cameron trailed off, then looked at Nico, "You spit?" he suddenly asked.
Nico looked at him in a way that said, 'You're really going to talk about that?' and just said, "I'm not a cannibal." He pulled his long sleeves further down.
Cameron shrugged, "I've just never known anyone who does."
"Anyway..." Nico said, desperate to change the conversation, "That's none of your business. Let's go get Percy."
The two made their way over to the office, where the daughter of Tyche was going over something with Percy. She looked up and paled. Nico noticed this and saw that Cameron was giving her a terrible, hateful stare. He cleared his throat and stepped between them. Percy looked up and smiled, "Hey, sorry. Almost done."
"Percy, the camp opens tomorrow, whether you have your work done or not." Cameron said.
The daughter of Tyche looked over at them, "But he needs to-"
"Shuttup, Alice." Cameron said darkly.
Nico pushed him out of the office, "Hey, not cool, man."
Cameron sighed angrily, "I know. I just don't understand why Percy has her helping with money, when she spends way too much on things we don't need and takes it away from others."
"Percy probably just thought it made sense that the daugther of the Goddess of luck and fortune would help him with the books."
Cameron's anger dissipated, "I guess you're right. Still, it's just not fair."
"Yeah yeah, justice and vengeance and all of that. Having Nemesis for a mama must be frustrating."
"It is."
Percy came out of the office, "Okay, I'm free now. Guess what, guess what?"
Nico quickly pecked Percy, "What what?"
"Bonfire!"
Cameron quirked a brow, "Bonfire?"
Both dark haired men looked at him, "BONFIRE!"
Nico nudged him, "It's like the camp equivalent of a rager."
"Rager? Were you raised in the 90's?"
"Bite me."
"Anyway," Percy interrupted, "I've decided to put you in charge." he said, looking at Nico.
"Whaa?"
"Yep. You need something to do."
"I guess." Nico said, none too excited.
Percy grabbed him closer, "Aww, are we moody today?"
Nico pulled his sleeves down again. It was a habit he'd picked up since coming to camp, "No, just tired."
"Are you cold? Are you getting sick?" Percy asked, noting Nico's long sleeves.
"No..." he glanced toward Cameron for a moment. Something about the guy's stare made him feel icky and exposed, but he lied for Percy's sake, "I just don't want to get sunburned."
Percy nodded, "Fair enough. So, who wants lunch?"
"Me!" Cameron said excitedly. He wrapped his arm around Percy's waist and Nico was about to chop the blonde's arm off when his other arm circled the smaller man's waist and he pushed both toward the mess cabin. Percy caught the murderous look and smiled a little. It was cute when Nico's jealous side showed. It made him feel special to belong to him.
x.x.x
Nico was laying in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He could hear all of the campers outside, starting the party without him. Some campers from Half-Blood had come to check the new camp out, but most were newbies that Percy and Grover had found. Nico had just gotten back from helping his father decide who got to go where, which always left him feeling guilty in some way. Who was he to judge? Sure, his father had the final say, but Hades often heeded Nico's suggestions. They both had soft spots for the romantic souls; those who had done terrible things in the name of love. Not too terrible, mind you, but reasoning was certainly taken into consideration.
He was dressed in traditional robes, which usually made him feel like a badass, but not tonight. He knew Cameron would be there and he didn't like the idea of so much flesh exposed around the blonde. He considered layering up, but Percy had started asking too many questions. He didn't want to tell his boyfriend to get rid of Cameron just because he wasn't sure if he was a good guy or not. He sighed and got off of his bed, looking in a mirror. He put on a ring set with a protective stone, which made him feel a little better. He looked into the mirror again. Shit, he looked like his father. He hastily turned away and found his shoes and then finally he was walking up the steps out of his cabin to join the bonfire festivities.
"Wow, haven't seen you dressed like that in a while." Percy said.
"Yeah, I just got back from home and didn't feel like changing. Am I the only one who went traditional?"
"Nope." said Cameron, by Percy's side as usual, "I've seen a few others, but I suspect some are just having a toga party."
"That's fine." Nico looked around. The fire was already huge and people were dancing around it. He recognized a few. He started to move through the crowd, looking for his coveted fruit table. The crowd split like the Red Sea in front of him. Everyone knew who he was. Some were afraid and others just respected his power. He tried to smile nicely at everyone, even though inside he was a mix of feeling awesome and nervous at the stares. Percy was behind him, his ADHD going crazy between all of the activities, the fire, and watching his boyfriend's shadowy robes sweeping over the dirt.
"Yay! Mango!" Nico said excitedly as he approached the fruit table. Percy caught up to him and got an orange-yellow chunk shoved in his face, "Dude, it's fucking mango!" Nico said before shoving it into his own mouth.
"I could only imagine if you ever got into drugs or something," Percy laughed, "I think you secretly have an addictive personality."
"There's no secret about it." Nico said, already eating from a handful of grapes.
"When you're done I want to go dance."
Nico laughed, "You don't dance."
"Well fine, I want to rub up on my boyfriend in public and show you off."
"Ah, so the truth comes out." Nico finished a pineapple chunk and looked around, "Where's Cameron?"
Percy shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe he knows that I just want to hang out with you tonight."
"Maybe." Nico said, looking around anyway.
"Come on, let's go dance." Percy grabbed the smaller man's hand and pulled him into the crowd of moving bodies. Again the crowd moved to make room for them. Percy could feel their stares, and the heat from the fire, and the natural coolness of Nico's body, all at once. Eventually the crowd started moving in on them, so they danced even closer to each other. Percy still couldn't dance for beans, but Nico's swaying lead him in the right directions and he worked with it. At one point he felt Nico's grip around his waist become tighter. Through the firelight he saw Cameron behind his lover, dancing. Figuring that Nico was trying to make room for him, Percy loosened the younger man's grip and moved to let Cameron dance with them. Nico complied, glad that the lack of light hid the fact that his stomach was rolling. He felt totally invaded. He watched as Cameron's hands started roaming Percy's body, pretending to be his own. He stepped between the two men to make a kind of Nico sandwich, protecting his lover from Cameron's touches. Instead Cameron began grinding against him, hands touching his naked waist, gripping harder than neccessary. Nico clung to Percy, who was oblivious to anything but Nico's body gyrating against him. Finally Nico couldn't stand Cameron's touches and roughly pulled Percy out of the dancing crowd.
The sensation of cooler air and darker light made Percy wake up from his lusty stupor. Nico was panting, leaning against a tree and closing his eyes. Percy rushed next to him, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Nico lied, "It was just getting too hot in there."
"I'll go get you some water. Just rest here and don't move." Percy quickly left and Nico stared up at the trees. He had to tell Percy about Cameron. What would he say, though? 'I don't like the way he touches us?' It wasn't like it happened often, and maybe that was just how Cameron was. Maybe he just didn't understand boundaries. Still, Percy had to know, right? Before he came to a decision Percy was back, pressing a cup of cool water to his lips. No matter what, Nico knew that Percy loved him.
"I love you." Nico said, desperately needing to hear it back.
Percy looked at him curiously, "I love you too, sweetie. Seriously, what's wrong?"
"Yeah Nico, you've been weird lately." Cameron said behind them. Blue and green eyes were staring at the younger man, and he shrunk a little, choosing to lie again.
"I think it's just too much for me. All these people and stuff."
"Maybe we should go back to your cabin." Percy said, grabbing Nico's hand.
"I'm fine, I promise."
A brown haired boy appeared in their group and gave Cameron a look, "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to go dance some more." the blonde said, touching Percy's shoulder for just a little bit too long and winking at Nico when he shied away from a similar gesture, "See you boys later."
"You sure you're okay, Nico?" Percy asked, the concern in his eyes ripping Nico apart.
"No..." Nico said, then his eye caught Cameron staring at him through the crowd. Cameron licked up the brown haired boy's neck, and then smiled at Nico. That just pissed Nico off. He grabbed Percy's hand and led him back into the crowd to dance. He wasn't going to let Cameron mess with him. From here he couldn't even see him. He focused on Percy, just Percy. He was all that mattered. They danced together for what seemed like hours. They only stopped when enough people had left to make the area feel empty.
Percy looked at Nico when they stopped, "You seem better than before."
"Yeah. I feel a little better."
Percy kissed Nico, "Let's go. We can clean up tomorrow." he took his hand and started toward the forest. Nico's cabin was hidden a few feet in the trees to keep wandering campers away. Percy was tripping over things in the darkness and Nico laughed.
"Would you like me to lead?" he asked.
"Actually..." Percy started. Being somewhat able to see in the darkness, Nico watched as Percy bit his lip, "Would it be weird if we...?"
Nico laughed again, "Seriously? You can't wait?"
Percy blushed, "I can, but that doesn't mean that I want to." he kissed the smaller man.
Nico contemplated for a moment. Why the hell not? Nobody else should be in that part of the camp, and he should be able to see them before they saw him and Percy. "Okay." he said shyly and then kissed Percy. His body responded pretty quickly. It seemed like it had been ages since they had done anything and he almost felt oversensitive because of it. He ended the kiss and looked around until he found a nice little spot under a tree and pinned Percy against the trunk, kissing him needily. Percy was quick to reciprocate, adding his tongue to the kiss. He turned the two around so that Nico was against the tree and Nico whimpered as the bark scratched his naked back. Percy's hands were up inside his robes and the older one chuckled.
"Should have figured you'd go commando under that."
"I always do." Nico said, already breathless. He put his arms around Percy's neck and pulled them down to the ground. They made out that way for a while, Nico in Percy's lap and Percy groping him under his robes. Percy turned them over again so that Nico was laying on his back with his knees on either side of Percy's hips. His robes had fallen to his waist, exposing his legs to the cool night air.
"Is this okay? Do you want to lay on my shirt?" Percy asked.
Nico almost wanted to cry. Percy was always so sweet and loving to him. He nodded, then remembered Percy couldn't see in the darkness, "Yeah, gimme your shirt, please."
Percy pulled it off and Nico sat up while he blindly laid it on the ground, assuming Nico would know where to lay. Nico laid down and they resumed making out, grinding against each other slowly. Percy licked up Nico's neck and the smaller one shuddered, feeling Percy's satisfied smile. It wasn't enough, though.
"Percy." Nico panted, "I need it."
"I don't want to hurt you. I don't have anything with me."
"I'll be fine." Nico pulled Percy into another kiss. He hated going dry, but this time he didn't care. He gasped when he felt Percy's fingers inside of him.
"You okay?"
Nico was starting to hate that phrase falling from Percy's lips. It was making him feel like a terrible person for lying all the time. "Yeah. You can go faster."
Percy laughed and went a little bit faster, but not too much. He didn't want to hurt his boyfriend if he could help it. He couldn't see anything this far in the forest, but somehow that made it hotter. He knew Nico's body so well that he already knew what each gasp and moan meant, and could just imagine the faces the younger man was making. He added more fingers and heard Nico moan. He detected a little bit of pain in the noise he made, but Nico seemed adamant about getting it right now. Nico bit down on Percy's bottom lip as they kissed and whispered, "I'm ready." between kisses. Percy positioned himself with Nico's guidance and pushed in.
"Fuck." Nico whimpered. It had hurt even more than he had expected it to. He wanted it, though. He pulled Percy into a kiss before he could ask after his well being again. Percy carefully started to move, listening to Nico's breathing because he couldn't see his face. Nico's cold hands were grabbing at his body, making him shiver. Then his lover moaned and a green light went off in his head. He held onto Nico's knees and pushed in harder. Nico moaned again, his mind screaming Percy's name as he completely surrendered to him. He was his.
To his left he heard something, but Percy hadn't seemed to notice. Nico peered into the darkness. He should have figured. The brunette boy and Cameron were stumbling into the forest. At one point Cameron glanced over at them and Nico wondered if he could see in the dark as well, but it was hard to tell. Several feet away, Cameron pushed the brunette to the ground. Percy heard the distinctive sounds of two men making out and snickered quietly.
"Do you think they know we're here?" Percy whispered, eyes searching the darkness for the two.
"If they do, they don't seem to care. Come on." He thrust his hips upwards, reminding Percy what they were doing. Percy resumed moving his hips, but did it slowly. Nico made a frustrated noise and pulled at his boyfriend. Percy took the hint and moved faster, soon forgetting about his audience as the pleasure hit his brain. He wished he could watch Nico's face, but not being able to seemed to heighten his other senses. He could smell the dirt they were laying on mixed with Nico's typical earthy cemetery smell. He felt his knees digging into the ground and his thighs sliding against Nico's. He could hear Nico's heavy breathing covering up the soft pants a few feet away. He felt Nico grab one of his hands and kiss his fingertips. It was a sweet gesture in the middle of chaos, like Nico was telling Percy that it wasn't just about the sex.
Nico released Percy's hand and looked to the side. Through the darkness he saw the brunette on his hands and knees with Cameron behind him. Nico was about to look away when Cameron turned and locked eyes with him. There was no way Cameron knew where to look, and Nico panicked. Nyx. Cameron's grandmother of sorts, she was the goddess of the night. Shit. Cameron *could* see in the dark, possibly better than Nico could. In an attempt to be intimidating, Nico stared back, no he glared back. Cameron grabbed the brunette's hips and pushed into him hard, making the other man moan loudly. The blonde licked his lips and smirked at Nico, refusing look away. The stare was saying, "This is you." and Nico suddenly felt as if it really were Cameron inside of him. If "No" were a feeling, Nico's body was feeling it just then. Suddenly everything seemed terrible and wrong and was caving in on him. Percy's body on top of him was making him claustrophobic and the feelings being brought to his body felt like unwanted violations. He tried to control himself, but his body had other plans and started in on a panic attack.
At first Percy just thought Nico's gasps were him losing control, then he heard the smaller man sniffle and he froze. Had he hurt Nico that badly? He felt like shit, even if his lover had said it was okay. There was a good hurt and a bad hurt. Nico protested when Percy stopped and tried to keep their hips moving, but even in the darkness the other man could tell that Nico was trembling. He carefully pulled out and hugged the body close.
"I'm sorry, Nico. I didn't mean for it to hurt that much."
Nico sobbed again and then composed himself long enough to tell Percy that it wasn't that. Suddenly he turned away from the other man and Percy heard the distinct sounds of his boyfriend puking, most likely all over the shirt that was beneath them. He quickly pulled Nico up and stumbled to the Hades cabin.
"I'm ok." Nico assured Percy as they entered his cabin.
"You can be such a bad liar sometimes." Percy said, but let Nico stand on his own anyway.
"Yeah..." was all Nico said before heading to the bathroom. He cleaned himself up and Percy had the sense to let him alone as he did. When he returned to his room he was glad that Percy was still there. His lover handed him some sleeping clothes and his giant hoodie that he wore when he wasn't feeling well. Nico dressed and then crawled into bed.
"Do you want me to stay here tonight?" Percy asked as he pulled the covers over the smaller man.
"Yes please." Nico said with his eyes shut tight. He just wanted the situation over, not to mention that he really did feel sick. What had that been? Did Cameron really get into his head, or had he let his obsessive hatred get the best of him? He had to let Percy know what was going on, but not tonight. He just wanted to sleep now. He felt Percy crawl into bed with him and then hold him close. Nico wanted to sob, but he held it in and pushed as close to Percy as he could before falling asleep.
The next day Nico felt worse. His body ached from the poor decision to go dry and he still felt ill. He figured it was the flu or something. He ended up staying in his cabin a few days and Percy checked on him every so often. Nico's heart ached at the worry on Percy's face, and he wished himself better, but it was like something was keeping him sick. To his dismay Cameron showed up with Percy one night.
"Hey Nico, feeling better yet?" he asked, sitting on the foot of Nico's bed. Nico had to fight hard not to turn him into a column of flame, and he only resisted because that would have lit his bed on fire as well.
"Does it look like I'm feeling better?"
Cameron reached out and touched Nico's forehead before the younger one could move away, "Hmm... not much of a fever."
"He maybe ate some bad fruit on bonfire night or something." Percy suggested, biting his thumbnail in a new nervous tick he had developed. Cameron quickly agreed.
Cameron said to wait there and that he would come back with something to help. When he returned he carried a glass full of questionably colored liquid. Nico glared at the glass. Who knew what Cameron had put in it. It was then that a thought occured to him. Cameron knew exactly what was in it, just as he probably knew exactly what had made Nico sick. If he had meant to poison Nico, though, why hadn't he used something stronger? Out of sheer curiosity Nico drank the contents of the glass. Cameron gave him a smirk and Nico's stomach turned as he remembered Cameron smirking at him that night.
Nico felt better the next day. He knew for sure that Cameron had done something now. The question was what he was going to do with that information. There was no way to prove it, especially since Cameron had been the one to give him the miracle cure. There was no way he could let the creep stick around anymore, though. Nico had to come up with a plan to get rid of the blonde.
Oh noes, Cameron is a bad guy. This is kind of short, I know. I was just really having a hard time with it, and rather than make you wait even longer, I've decided to split it up into two. I hope you still like me, heh.