Finally, Some Homoerotic Greek Fighting
Fucking fuck-sluts, that bitch was a motherfucking problem! Nico knew he was being unfair. But he'd wanted Percy so bad last night it had almost hurt. And fuck, he couldn't believe he'd been so careless. His sex life, especially his orientation was not something he wanted to share. And son of a bitch, he'd wished his father had carried him off when Annabeth had walked in, he was so embarrassed. Urrgh, at least she'd had kept quiet about it. Nico could commend her on that. The rest of the crew had definitely noticed that all was not well with the golden couple though. Well, with Annabeth sulking in a corner and ignoring him and Percy outright, it was pretty impossible to miss. Piper was running off her mouth with moronic rumours that Percy had wanted to break up with Annabeth and tried to soften the blow by saying that Nico wanted to date her instead, which was fucking ridiculous. True, he had a soft spot for Piper. She'd saved his life. But that didn't make the rumour any less fucking stupid. He felt a little sorry for Annabeth, but seriously… why should he apologize? She wouldn't even listen to him and it would blow the rumours up further. It was not as though he was going to stop trying to fuck Percy. It wasn't as though he could help wanting to fuck Percy – he'd been trying to get that gorgeous ass out of his head for years. And it wasn't like Annabeth would accept any sort of peace offering anyway. So screw it. If she wanted to try fucking emotional blackmail, he was the king of ignoring that shit. He scowled in his own little black cloud for a minute.
"Nico, what happened with Annabeth?" Whoa, what the whores of Hades?! Hazel had climbed up to the crow's nest where he'd been sun-bathing and watching Percy spar with Jason. Fucking gave him the fright of his life.
Nico surveyed his half-sister. He cared about her and trusted her with most things. But this? This was too deep.
"They had a fight." He kept his voice level and mildly concerned. "I defended Percy -" because that bitch can tear Minotaurs apart with words – "and that didn't go down too well."
"Oh. Why did they fight?" She hopped in beside him and looked out over the sparkling sea. "I know I don't know Annabeth that well, but from what I heard from Percy, he really loved her."
A stab of green-eyed jealousy impaled Nico through the gut. No. Percy was his. Shut the fuck up, Nico, you stupid shit. If Percy didn't want him, he'd have begged for Annabeth back by now. Urgh, fuck he hated his mind-set sometimes. It didn't want to believe anything good could happen to him.
"It's…I guess it's not my place to say." Didn't like avoiding the truth with Hazel, but he wasn't ready to go public with this shit.
"Well, it's not much, but I'm sorry you got caught up in this." She reached over and hugged him. Yeah. Caught up. He fucking started it. What a bastard.
"Thanks." The scent of her hair and her warmth was comforting. For a while this girl had been the only light in his world of loneliness. Nico kissed her on the cheek as they parted and smiled. "You really make me feel better."
Hazel looked momentarily stunned and then beamed back. "Good!"
Wait a second, what in all fuck was that?!
"Hazel, do you see…" He yanked out his binoculars and sure enough… "Land! Look!"
She snatched his binoculars from his hand. Yeah, they were both excited to ditch this boat. She was seasick almost every day, and fuck, the ocean was a bitch in his opinion. Land was safer. Land was good. Gaia was land, but she was sleeping for now.
"Whoohoo!" She crushed him in a hug again. "Look guys! LAND!"
Percy and Jason both stopped sparring and followed her finger. That sexy-ass sea-bitch nodded. Greece.
It took them till midday to get to shore, but feeling land again was practically like groping Percy's ass. Firm and fucking incredible. Plus there was another weird tug. A deep pull in his very bones, as if he really belonged here. Something ancient within Nico reared its dark head and purred in satisfaction, fuelled by the detection of its long-awaited return home. Fuck, that was powerful. The air itself seemed to give him strength and pump energy to his muscles like a rush of liquid steel lending vigour to his limbs. If they were going to fight Gaia anywhere, he was as sure as all shit that he could whip her mountainous titties here.
The Romans didn't look too happy though, especially Frank.
"I don't think we should stay here." He eyed the beach camping reserve with unease. They'd chosen to dock at an ambiguous bay and figure out the plan from there. It seemed Athens was a good place to go, but the Argos II was like a fucking mountain beacon for any allies of Gaia.
"What? No way!" Percy grinned and caught Nico's eye. Oh dear mother of fucking, he looked good in the mid-afternoon light: his skin glowed with a delicious bronze tan, picking out the rippling musculature perfectly in his bare arms. The cool wind had hardened his nipples and was playing with the edges of his shirt, revealing tempting glimpses of that toned, smooth stomach. Nico had presumed this quest would be hard. It had turned out to make him uncontrollably hard instead.
"I agree!" Piper leaned against Jason and breathed in deeply. Even with the teasing breeze, her hair fell in absolute perfection and the way the light danced on her looked as though she had her own personal photoshop. Beautiful, for a girl. Even Annabeth looked happier.
"Right, let's go." She nodded at Jason and Piper, without even a glance at Percy. "Sorry Frank, but we have to do this."
Cruel bitch. To see Percy's happiness fall into a saddened grimace was utter shit.
"You alright?" He casually strode up to the son of Poseidon, ignoring the plea from his dick to shadow-travel the man off to a hotel in Paris and give him a cheering blow job. Or they could fuck each other. Whatever would make the man smile. No. Time and place. Aw gods... Now that he was closer, he could see Percy's eyes were bloodshot and puffy. That was just a fucking ice-pick to his heart.
"I've been better, I guess." Those tired blue eyes followed Annabeth up the slope as they walked. "She's been my friend for years."
"I'm – "
"Don't you dare apologize." Percy threw him a wan smile. "I'll throttle you, remember?"
Nico couldn't help a laugh. Shit, how did Percy make him feel so fucking happy?
"S'good to see you laughing, Nico di Angelo." That gorgeous bastard almost reached over to stroke his cheek, but glanced back at Hazel and Frank following them warily.
"You make me happy." That was the most sincere thing Nico felt he'd ever said. Over the course of the years, Percy had made him angry, alone, depressed, suicidal, hopeful, frustrated…but now was the happiest he'd ever been in his entire life.
By nightfall, everyone was tired of pushing through forest, (they were too cautious to follow the brick-red 4WD track) but Jason still suggested they train for fighting.
"Demi-god powers aside," He warned, "Fighting skills may win the day."
Nico was fine with it, even though he'd been sparring ghosts and skeletons since he'd realized they were heading for an intense war. Summoning heroes from the past had its benefits. They had serious moves.
"We can have a competition!" Frank suggested. "It would make it more fun."
"For you!" Piper grinned nervously. "No way am I going up against you boys!"
"Oh go on!" Jason took her wrist and led her into the middle of the clearing. "Attack me!"
She gave him a grudging look and whipped out her knife. It really wasn't a fair fight, but Jason knew it. At every mistake, he'd give her a friendly pointer and let her practise what he'd taught her, until he flicked the knife out of her hand with a grin.
"See, not so bad?"
Piper just stuck her tongue out at him and laughed. "Such a gentleman."
"Go on, go practise with Annabeth. She's the best with knives." Annabeth had backed out of the game, which was probably a wise decision. Fighting either him or Percy would probably end up in a death-match. Jason smacked his girlfriend on the ass as she left with a grin and looked back at the rest of them. Dayum, Jason was turning into a naughty bitch!
"Who's next to challenge the mighty son of Jupiter?"
Hazel took the challenge, which was a fun fight. She could hold her ground quite well, but Jason was the fucking boss. Leo came after her, but their sparring was more of Jason chasing a teasing Leo around with a sword, until the son of Hephaestus jumped on his back and sent them both rolling in the dirt. Jason only just ended up with his sword at Leo's throat, but they both laughed it off.
The run must have worn him out though, because Frank owned his ass in the next round. Fuck that guy was tank. If a real fight happened between Jason and Frank, though…who the fuck would top that? The son of Jupiter versus animal man.
"Alright!" Jason called from the edge of the clearing. "Frank and Percy!"
Ooh shit, Frank looked a little nervous. He'd better look nervous. Percy was the fucking standing hero of Camp Half-Blood. Even the girls and Leo cut off their practise sparring to watch. And fuck, was it a show. Percy was as fast as a tiger, but the praetor of Camp Jupiter matched it with strength; every blow Percy caught rang off his celestial bronze like a tolling bell. Half the time Nico wasn't even watching Frank, but the way Percy's body moved in a dance of war around the larger hero. Fuck, that fighting turned him on. Shit, it had done for years. That downright sexy testosterone. He'd always been afraid that the sexy motherfucker would distract him so badly in a practise that Nico'd lose an arm or something, just staring at those muscles rippling and twisting in action, usually dripping with water. Fuck. Hard-on city coming right up. Up being the operative word.
Suddenly, Percy's arm flashed and Frank's shorter sword skittered out of his hand.
"Wow, where did you learn that?!" The larger guy grinned in amazement, looking from his hand to his sword two feet away.
"An old friend, long dead now." Percy shrugged and picked up Frank's sword with a smile. "One of the first things I ever learned."
"Alright then!" Jason cut them off with a grin. "Percy and Nico!"
What? He was actually playing? Ohhh fuck. It looked as though the rest of the group was thinking the same thing.
"Um, is that – "
"Fine by me." Nico cut Hazel off and strode over to face Percy. Shit. That man was sex on legs. He drew his long, double-edged blade. The black metal gave him a little zing of energy. It was like carrying around his own piece of the Underworld.
The son of Poseidon flicked his eyebrows suggestively and Nico locked eyes with him. A thrill of heat shimmered treacherously into his groin, but this time desire made his ass clench too; fuck that demi-god looked dominant in fighting stance, eyes set and sword pointing straight at Nico. Holy lord of Olympus, Percy could bend him over a fucking sand-dune or whatever and pound his ass any day. Nico took a brief moment to wonder if Percy had anything else pointing at him before the older demi-god attacked. In one smooth movement, Nico caught the blow and ducked under Percy's arm. If the son of Poseidon had been a millisecond slower, the fight would have been over with Nico's blade on the back of his neck. But the older demigod whirled around and rapped his sword with a blow so hard he reeled back, almost losing his footwork. Ooh good fuck that was hot, feeling the power behind those muscles. Percy immediately took advantage of his pause and came in with a side-strike, but shit, after taking lessons with the ghost of Achilles, he'd learned to be fucking quick. He blocked and twisted his blade, trying to wrench Riptide out of Percy's grasp. Instead, there was a grating screech and he found himself staring at those sexy eyes through a cross of metal. The other man was panting, but instead of anger or determination in his gaze, there was raging hot, needy desire. Fuck, he wanted to kiss that bastard. How was eye contact so fucking erotic? Yet…as much as Nico found Percy irresistible, it seemed to work the other way too. Maybe it was time to play a little dirty. With what he hoped was a seductive smirk, he switched the pressure on his blade and used Percy's force to propel him downward and slide between the demi-god's legs, elbowing him in the back of the knees as he went. He turned on his knees immediately and straddled that slim waist at the same moment Percy flipped over. It was pretty obvious the man could feel his full blown erection, but props to Percy for resisting distraction, because the son of Poseidon still caught his blade before Nico could put it against his throat. Oh good gods, couldn't they just chuck away their swords and play some tongue-hockey in the dirt? Fuck! His Eros-stung arm was practically having an orgasm right now, which really wasn't helping his concentration.
"Guys -" Frank's anxious interruption threw him for a second and suddenly Percy lunged, throwing him off sideways. Before the older demi-god could pin him, Nico rolled to his feet, but a powerful arm caught him round the waist. How had Percy been so quick to get up? Ha, from his experience, Percy had always been pretty quick to rise. Well fuck it. He spun his blade around so the point faced behind him as the sharp edge of Riptide gently scraped his throat. His body was pinned so hard against Percy's that he could feel every inch of the demigod's boner, hard against his ass. Holy fucking shit, he almost moaned in pleasure. He wanted to grind on it, make Percy squeal with shock and craving…but not with people watching. No way in all shit was he even going to look happy about having Percy's cock against his ass. Especially not look like he wanted Percy's dick in his ass.
"Surrender?" Percy panted in his ear. Fuck, Nico could feel him panting; that strong, muscular frame cupping his own. The warmth and firmness of Percy's body moving against his back threw Nico's head into sexual overdrive. Shit, he was so hard, he'd be surprised if nobody noticed. Instead of replying or grinding or shadow-travelling them to a hot steamy shower somewhere, Nico pressed the point of his inverted sword a little more authoritatively against Percy's stomach.
"You surrender."
"I think we can call that a draw." Jason clapped his hands with a grin. Percy quickly released him, but as he removed Riptide, a horrible wave of sick, dank red washed over Nico's vision. For a second he couldn't even breathe properly…and then it was gone. So sudden. What the fuck? He could feel his heart churning into his chest like a rhythmic whirlpool.
"Nico, you have to teach me those moves!" Hazel pounced on him and he snapped back. Normal heart, normal vision.
"Tomorrow." He smiled at her, body still resounding with shock from the vision blurred with heat and lust. An almost nauseating concoction. "That fu – I mean, that wore me out."
Despite her probably knowing as many curses as he did, Nico still didn't want to start mouthing off in front of her. Big brother role model complex, perhaps. He didn't fucking know. He didn't even fucking know whether he registered as her big brother. Fuck everything.
"It was amazing!" She looked up at him with shining brown eyes. "Where did you learn it?"
"Heroes of the past." He smiled and picked out Percy beside the campfire Leo had just started. "Come on, let's get some food."
Maybe they had pomegranates? He fucking loved that shit. And it helped him sleep. Fuck, he was tired.
Plip. Plip. Drops of icy water echoed, eerie and chilling through the vast openness of the cavern. Hewn blue-grey rock arced in a natural dome high above his head, steeping down to a rough, shadowy floor. In the centre of the cave, a massive vent, a ragged wound in the ancient rock gaped, exposing soft, churning earth. He was kneeling on a thick spire, stretched like a long, grasping finger over the pit. A pink flower petal fluttered from his shoulder. Its gentle alighting on the ground resounded with tiny, insignificant echoes. The muted sound magnified a hundred times in every crevice of rock to return as a soft, high ringing. He tried to move his hands. Bound. Ankles too. Something heavy and fleshy with a sour scent moved behind him. Hands, much larger than anything human slid into his line of vision, grasping two burnished silver knives, one either side of his head. Malicious. Viciously sharp.
"Percy Jackson. You give your life as a willing sacrifice to the Mother Gaia?" That deep voice grumbled through the dank air, until a hundred rumbles asked the same question.
"I do." He took a breath, nerves clotting in his throat like rancid butter. The thud of his heart seemed to resound out of his chest and out into the blackness of the cavern, devoured by its uncanny murk. Another petal wove through the air before him, down, down, down to the gurgling mud below.
"Awaken, Mother!" He knew that voice. He knew that voice from a time long gone. The wicked knives pressed against his jugular. Every piece of skin in his throat tingled, on hyper-alert toward the cold metal. He could feel the tug that came with a terribly cruel sharpness and the tender nerves on his neck began to throb, just as the skin begins to crawl when the paranoia of spiders or insects takes hold. Just let it be over with. Let it be done. He swallowed against the metal, cartilage of his Adam's apple forcing his skin harder against the pitiless, seductive edge. A tiny sting of heat pre-empted the trickle of a single rivulet of blood trailing a lonely, warm path down his chest. Please. Get it over with. The muscles in his stomach quivered and contracted, wanting to make him retch with nerves preluding inevitability. He could feel miniscule tremors racing through his arms and thighs to the beat of his racing heart.
"Take this blood as sacrifice!" Another being roared in agreement, and another. The whole chamber echoed with gruesome cries. What a sound to die to.
Suddenly, over in the corner he saw –
The meaty ripping sound crunched through his skull. White hot agony lanced from his throat as blood spurted out, filmy and crimson before his eyes. A chunk of flesh, caught between the two knives dangled by a skein of ragged meat from his jugular. He couldn't scream. Tried to gasp, breathe. Only a wretched, viscous, gurgle left his mouth as blood sprayed onto his tongue. Sharp iron. The sickening broken wheeze of a shredded trachea. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Black, white, red, colours. He couldn't see, suffocating on clotted scarlet strings. Shattered cartilage grated in screaming torment against lumps of flesh it was never meant to touch. Blood so dense it was black spewed out his mouth and the yawning hole in his throat, down his chest and into the pit as darkness clawed the edges of his eyes. The agony wrenched in every screaming nerve as the knives slit again, further into the meat of his neck…I….I…I love you.
"AHHHHH!" Nico jolted awake, screaming and shaking. Shock. Pain. He couldn't breathe properly, grasped at his throat. Hands came away black, covered in blood, covered in…shadow. Only a shadow. He hadn't realized he'd been crying. The cold night air burned the damp on his cheeks, and he hurriedly swiped it off with a sleeve. One ragged breath after another…
"Nico!" Hazel grasped his shoulders, brown eyes wide with fear and horror. Beside her Jason and Percy knelt, panting from their sprint over. Jason looked worried. Percy's handsome features were downright distraught.
"What happened?" The son of Poseidon's voice soothed him, but his muscles were still trembling from the illusion of pain. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. That had been too fucking real.
"Nightmare." Nico couldn't help his voice shivering, so he cleared his throbbing throat and tried again. "I had a nightmare. Nothing to worry about."
Worried looks. Fuck them. What the fuck had that fucking shit been? He felt cold to his very core. Had that thing said Percy? No. No, no, no, no, fuck no. Anyone but Percy. Please, let that dream be just a dream. But in Nico's heart of hearts, doubt gnawed. Fuck. He wanted to cry. Fuck no. Not Percy. He'd do anything. He'd give his own life instead. Anything.
"I'll be ok." He pushed Hazel away and turned back onto his side.
"You guys go." Percy murmured. Nico felt another fucking stupid tear slide over his cheek. How dare his body react to shock like this? "I'll look after him."
A warm hand settled against his cheek and gentle fingers toyed with his hair.
"Thank you." Nico reached up and took the other calloused hand in his. Grief and anger surged up, freeing his mind from the numb of adrenaline. No. He'd make sure Percy lived if it was the last thing he ever did.
A/N: Will Nico's dream come true? Speculate! c:
