"Nico. Nico! NICO!" The blonde yelled, waiting for Nico to snap out of his stupor. He had been staring out the window of the dining hall for almost 10 minutes.
"There better be an excellent reason why you aren't paying any attention to me. You know I'm like Tinkerbell; if you don't give me attention I'll die." Nico laughed at that, slowly bringing his eyes back to Jason's.
"Sorry J. I'm just thinking." He took a bite of his fries, finding that they were starting to get cold.
"About mystery boy?" Jason accused, raising his voice and wiggling his eyebrows. Nico rolled his eyes, grabbing another fry.
"He's not a mystery, I may have asked him out over email, but I have met him." He gestured with his fry towards Jason, pointing at him. "And you can not trick me into telling you who he is. Its too soon for that and you are…" He paused, deciding on the perfect phrase, "A lot. You are a lot."
Jason honestly should have been an actor. Clasping his hands to his heart, he contorted his face into mock offense. "The audacity," he emphasized, grabbing a napkin to wipe away his fake tears. "I can't believe that you will tell Percy and Annabeth, but not your best friend in the entire world. Your roommate. Your life partner!"
At that comment, Nico threw a fry at him. Jason, of course, caught it in his mouth, bursting into laughter.
"Nah I get it Neeks, I am a lot. But also you will have to tell me sooner or later. Plus didn't you say he's picking you up for this date? I just need some binoculars." He looked like a cartoon villain, as he rubbed his hands together maniacally.
Nico sank into his chair, groaning. "You are never gonna give up, are you?"
"Nope!" Jason insisted, a playful smile on his face.
"I'll tell you who he is if tomorrow night goes well okay?" Nico locked eyes with Jason, initiating a staring contest that would determine who won this argument. Nico refused to back down, locking his eyes on Jason's and forcing himself not to blink. It was then that Nico became thankful that Jason wears contacts. His eyes dried out, and he was forced to blink.
"Fuck!" Jason screamed, finally giving in. "Fine you emo bastard, I'll wait to find out who this prince charming is." His pout was almost pathetic enough to make Nico feel bad…almost.
Nico felt his pocket begin to buzz and pulled out his phone.
"Hi Percy." Nico started, knowing what this call was going to be about.
"Nico. It has been 6 hours and 21 minutes since you said that you would tell me about you date."
"Wow Perc, not that you've been counting or anything." Nico laughed. Jason shouted hello to Percy through a mouthful of pasta.
"Hey Jason. Nico, pass the phone." Nico told Jason Percy wanted to talk to him and handed over the phone.
"Shello!" He opened, garnering another eye roll from Nico.
"What do you know?"
"Depends, what do you know?" Realizing what was happening, Nico snatched his phone back from Jason.
"Percy, you are NOT comparing notes. I told Jason about the date because he ambushed me this morning. I will call you after I get out of my last class, okay?" Nico didn't even wait for an answer, hanging up on the boy. He shoved his phone back in his pocket and glared at Jason.
He was glancing around the room and whistling to avoid Nico's glare. "I wasn't gonna tell him anything." He protested, pouting.
"You are SO lucky that the deadline to switch roommates was in September." Nico shot. He found his frown fading the longer he looked at Jason, and soon both boys were laughing.
"Neeks, you know we only hassle you because we love you. Percy and I just want you to be happy like we are." He immediately threw his hands up in defense, backtracking on his point. "Not that you aren't a complete and whole person without a significant other."
Nico narrowed his eyes. He had that argument with Jason every time they watched a romantic comedy. No one should be made to feel like they are inadequate if they aren't in love and Nico was very passionate in this belief.
"I'm gonna get dessert. You coming?" He posed to Jason, grabbing his plates and standing up. The dessert bar was probably one of the best things about going to the buffet-style dining hall.
Despite having eaten two burgers, half of Nico's fries and a bowl of pasta, Jason readily agreed to what must have been his fifteenth course. Dessert was an essential meal group for the two boys, and it was something they had bonded over at camp.
"Yo dude!" Jason called excitedly as they moved from the dish drop off to the desserts. "They have dirt pudding!" The blonde boy grabbed a tray and three servings of dirt pudding. Honestly the saying a kid in a candy store should have been based off Jason Grace.
Nico looked around, surveying the assortment of ice cream flavors. He finally landed on some chocolate chip cookie dough and a slice of red velvet cake. Filling a bowl with fruit, he headed back to the table. In the few moments he had not been watching Jason, it appeared that he had decided to grab a fourth serving of dirt pudding just in case.
"I swear, I have no idea where you put all of this garbage." Nico gestured with a spoonful of ice cream towards Jason's incredibly full tray.
"I am a growing young boy, I need to eat."
"Well you're never gonna stop growing at this rate." Nico pat his gut and look accusingly at Jason. The blonde boy just stuck out his tongue and began digging into his first dirt pudding.
Nico felt his phone buzz again and reached into his pocket. It was a snapchat notification from Will. He felt his heart beat go faster but managed to not alert Jason. That was the last thing he needed at the moment.
He opened the app and waited impatiently as the red box loaded. Once it turned solid again, he clicked it, again noticing that his heart rate had increased dramatically. If this whole thing panned out, he hoped that the heart palpitations would not be a lasting side effect.
When the picture appeared, Nico couldn't help but smile. It was a video of Will dancing like an idiot to the Office intro. He laughed out loud, garnering a confused glance from Jason.
"Is it mystery boy or Percy doing something stupid?" He asked, in between bites of his third dirt pudding.
"He's not a mystery. But yeah, its him. Fuck J, I really like him. This sucks." He put his hands behind his head and locked his fingers together. Boys had never really been one of Nico's strong suits, relationships and feelings were close seconds for things he did not understand.
"Awww Nico's in love. I never thought I'd live to see the day."
"You're an idiot." Nico insisted, a blush creeping up on him again. Luckily for him, Jason was distracted when his friend Connor rolled up to the table. Most of Jason's intramural friends would wave hi and then ignore Nico, which worked out just perfectly for him.
He took about 7 pictures before he deemed one acceptable enough to send to Will. He pushed his bangs in front of his eyes and stuck out his tongue. After perusing the emoji catalogue, he decided on a word art that said loser with a laptop. That seemed sufficiently flirty, so he sent his masterpiece. Although it was a pretty simple task, the whole process had taken Nico several minutes to get just right. It is crazy how high stakes snapchatting a new person is.
Nico started paying attention to Jason's conversation, and his ears perked up when he heard the word party. Connor had a pretty wicked reputation for throwing incredible parties. He didn't really drink, but on the odd occasion that Jason got Nico to leave the room, it was always Connor's parties that they ended up at.
"Nico, you gonna come by?" Connor threw his direction, raising his eyebrows as he waited for an inevitable no. He was so sick and tired of people making assumptions about him.
"What time?" Nico responded, watching as both Jason and Connor's expressions changed to shocked ones.
"Um…tomorrow night around 9 or 10." Connor replied, looking back at Jason with a smile.
"I have something at 6, but I'll stop by afterward. Still living with Luke and Travis?"
"No actually, Luke turned out to be a dick, so we have a new roommate. You'll meet him if you come."
"Alright cool, is it BYO or a cover?" Jason at this point was just staring in amazement at Nico.
"Cover. $5 for dudes, ladies get in free." A mischievous glint in his eyes made Nico feel sorry for the ladies he was referencing. Connor was notorious for getting drunk and professing his love for anyone he saw, it had happened to Annabeth the one time they had gotten her to go to a party with them. She still brought it up as an example of why she doesn't like parties.
Nico had to admit, the disbelief in Jason's expression was definitely worth it. He wasn't a huge fan of parties, but it was his senior year. There wouldn't be any more chances to go to college parties after that year.
"Alright so we'll see you there lads!" Connor held up a peace sign and nearly hopped away. That boy was way more excited to party than he was to be going to college.
"What? Was? That?" Jason enunciated, putting emphasis on each ending sound.
"What?" Nico said with a shrug, a smug grin on his face. It wasn't often that he got to surprise Jason, and he did love how powerful it made him feel.
"I have to almost drag you to every party you've ever been to and now all of a sudden you're all 'Is it BYO or a cover?' Who are you and what have you done with little Nicky?" Jason held his spoon accusingly, making sure not to spill any of his last bite of dirt pudding.
"I don't know J, I'm just feeling…" He paused, trying to think of the right word. "Spontaneous." His smile was genuine as he played with the liquid remains of his ice cream. There was something different about him since he was given this challenge; he couldn't quite explain why, but he felt different.
"Well if it has to do with your mystery man, I'm voting he stays around forever. We've been trying to get you out of your shell for years, and this guy gets you to do it in two days. I'm kinda jealous."
"I probably would've done it for you too…" Watching Jason's eye him skeptically, he added, "If you were gay and I thought I had a chance. You really dropped the ball being in a happy heterosexual relationship." Both boys burst out laughing, and the meal continued in content silence. Nico had finished his ice cream and moved onto his cake, it was dry, but the taste wasn't too bad.
Jason had gotten a text from Piper, asking which dress she should buy for her sorority's formal. Every time Piper had a fashion question, Jason always consulted Nico, even though Nico insisted that he was not ascribing to that particular gay stereotype. He dressed pretty okay, but that was mostly due to the fact that 95% of his wardrobe was black.
"I don't know, maybe the blue one?" Nico supplied, not very confident in his answer.
"I think she looks amazing in everything, so I really need you to help me when she needs opinions Nico." Jason pleaded, offering his phone to Nico for a closer look.
Obliging Jason's stupid request, Nico grabbed the phone and pretended to mull it over. "Yeah. I'd say the blue dress is a better option, the silver one doesn't flatter her as much."
Jason just nodded along, shooting Piper a response voting for the blue one.
"Alright, I think I've officially filled all four of my stomachs. Ready to head out?" Nico shoved the rest of the slice of cake in his mouth and muffled a yes through it all. He grabbed his bomber and followed Jason to the tray drop off and then the exit.
"So, I'm off to skype with Piper. I know that your class normally goes full time, but if you finish early, remember to shoot me a text." Nico just stared blankly ahead, avoiding thinking about what they would be doing over skype.
"Yup. A-okay captain." He responded, shoving all thoughts about the ensuing…conversation to the back of his mind.
"Hopefully the class will go fast. Maybe Dr. D will let me grade papers instead of lecture." In his heart, he knew that was just wishful thinking. He honestly didn't know why Dr. D had become an education. Children did not seem to be a group of people he enjoyed; but then again, he didn't enjoy adults much either.
Jason said his goodbyes and headed back towards the dorm. Nico pulled his phone out and checked his notifications. A snapchat from Will and a text from Annabeth. Cursing, Nico realized that he did still owe them details on the date. He opened Will's snapchat first, finding a selfie of Will doing a facemask with a headband holding back his hair. It was goofy and cute, and Nico couldn't help but smile like an idiot. This time he decided to respond with an artsy shot. He hunted around for a large leaf on the ground. Once he had found a suitable specimen, he used the snapchats features to draw a face. He mimicked Will's spa day caption and sent it.
Taking a deep breath, he sat on a nearby stone wall and dialed Percy.
"I've been waiting all day!" Percy snapped as he answered, after only one ring.
"Percy I literally talked to you maybe half an hour ago." Nico responded, rolling his eyes at how dramatic the older boy was being.
"That's not fair, you know that I have ADHD." He could almost hear Percy pouting through the phone.
"So, do I Percy. We met at a camp for kids with ADHD."
"Your point?"
"Alright. Anyway." Nico drew out the anyway, choosing to pick his battles.
"Yeah, anyway! How was your date? You sent us that thumbs up yesterday and then radio silence."
"Well I mean, I do go to college Perce. I know that you are living off your sugar momma's education and career, but some of us plan to fend for ourselves."
"Hey! Just because I plan on being a stay-at-home dad when I grow up doesn't make it any less of a job!"
"It does when you aren't doing the dad part!"
"Rude." Percy responded, not having any rebuttal to that argument.
"Anyway, back to the date. It was a lot of fun. We talked the whole time, it was never forced or uncomfortable. We're going to see a movie tomorrow. And…" He paused, not adding the next part 'and he kissed me'.
"And what? If I find out your withholding information, I will follow you on your next date with binoculars."
"You and Jason with your binocular based threats. Anyway, and I really like him Perce. I haven't liked someone like this since, well since you." Even though the years had dulled the feelings, Nico was still embarrassed about his crush on Percy.
"Wow. So you really like this guy." He could sense a shift in Percy's voice, all joking was gone, replaced by a sincerity that he didn't often get from the older boy.
"Yeah. I really do." He expected Percy to make a joke about how this guy could never live up to his beauty, but what he did instead surprised Nico.
"You deserve this Nico. You deserve to be happy." It seemed like such a simple phrase, but it floored him. He didn't think anyone had ever told him that before. When Bianca died, things had gotten very dark, he had turned away from everyone and as much progress as he had made recovering, he hadn't fully healed. He never expected to, he blamed himself for her death. He fought against dark thoughts every day, but the loudest ones shouted that he had no right to be happy and alive while Bianca was dead.
"Nico, are you still there?" Percy asked, concern evident in his voice. Nico hadn't even realized it, but he'd started crying.
"Yeah I'm here. It's just…I know you're right, but its still hard…" He tried to choke out the rest, but he couldn't find the words.
"I know Neeks. I know." The second was quieter, Percy knew better than anyone how Nico felt. Percy had been there when Bianca had her accident. He had blamed Percy for a while, before realizing that he was projecting blame to avoid the fact that it was his fault. Well, not his fault according to the very expensive therapist he went to see for a few years.
"She'd want you to be happy Nico. You know she would." Percy was right, and Nico did know that. It was still hard to rework almost a decade of self-loaming and blame. Maybe he did deserve to move on and be happy, maybe Will would make him happy. He was hesitant to put too much faith in that.
He wiped away the tears from his eyes, grateful for the chilling wind to dry them quickly. "Listen Perce, I gotta go, class is gonna start soon. Thanks though. For you know…"
"Don't mention it kid. Any time."
Nico hung up, composing himself before starting the brief walk to Elysium. He walked into the faculty lounge in the sociology wing, thinking that some coffee might cheer him up. That was one of the perks of being a TA. He went to grab his favorite mug before noticing a familiar sight out of the corner of his eye.
It was the mug Will had used earlier, the one with the World's Greatest Professor. He grabbed that one and filled it, adding his cream and sugar like he always did. Placing it on the table, he took a snapchat, using the writing tool to cover the professor part and write TA. He sent it to Will before grabbing his TA folder from the mailbox and heading to the room.
It was now officially t-minus 24 hours until his second date.