Sorry for the delay folks. Whoever says art school is easy is insane :P but I hope everyone likes this chapter!

Also, very important question below! Please answer!

I couldn't help but smile as I watched Nico. I usually had trouble keeping my eyes off him whenever he was around, probably a byproduct of the fact that I didn't get to see him that much. He was really beautiful to look at. All contrast. Black against white, angles and curves. I couldn't help looking, especially now considering he was actually making the effort to look nice.

Gone were the perpetually rumpled flannels and oversized hoodies worn over faded t-shirts, the ripped jeans and the scuffed combat boots. Normally he did everything he could to remain hidden, stay in the shadows. No, the Nico I saw was wearing a tight black button down with equally tight black pants. The boots remained the same, but it was still nice to see Nico in clothes that fit him properly.

And it was all for a good reason. Tonight was our first real, proper date. It was Valentine's Day and we were actually going out for dinner and a movie like a normal couple. It felt like a good way to mark the occasion.

But there were a other (maybe better and certainly less selfish) reasons for me to watch him. I was searching for signs of apprehension about our date tonight. I wasn't sure how he was feeling about it. But in general, I was almost always trying to pick out any tension in his body, trying to figure out when he needed to talk about something (and wasn't going to).

It was just shy of a week since Nico had his encounter with Hazel. He'd been staying with me ever since, spending his nights on my couch.

For most of the week, he was a mess, at least on the inside. But that only seemed to come out at night. See, I'd made this deal with my mom that if either of us had a nightmare, we'd be allowed to sleep in the same bed as long as nothing…went on. It took a lot of convincing, but she eventually agreed, understanding that this wasn't some ploy to get alone time.

Those first few nights were just…sad. He'd start off the night on the couch, reluctantly wrapped up in a spare blanket. I imagine we sat awake for a while, dreading sleep. But eventually, he would tip toe into my room, trying his best not to wake me. He would slip under the blanket and lie there with his head nestled against my chest or my arms wrapped around his thin waist as I tried my best to comfort him.

The dam would inevitably break, and he would shake a bit harder, muffled sniffles breaking the almost quiet air of my bedroom. We would just lie there, letting the distant sound of traffic outside the window lull us back to sleep. In the morning, I would ask about the nightmares

Most of the time he tried to push his emotions down and focus on something else, anything else. I was more than willing to help him find something to keep his mind off Hazel and the upcoming potential disaster. We would watch movies together, as I was still on a quest to show him the wonders of 21st century cinema. I'd considered taking him out in public, but he seemed more comfortable in the privacy of my apartment. We would try our best to relax.

At first, I thought my family would interfere with his ability to calm down. I was afraid he wasn't going to get along with them, and that it would just pile on the stress and make everything worse. He was awkward around people in general, adults especially. Sure, he hadn't always been like this, I remembered a time when he was a talkative little monster. But he'd spent so long on his own that throwing him into this situation brought the potential for disaster.

I think he was afraid of offending my mom, on top of his already timid nature. He was afraid of being weird. Of messing up. He was afraid of not measuring up to who my mom imagined me being with, especially after Annabeth. He may not have said it in words, but I expected he felt somewhat inadequate. It wasn't a far leap, and the way he'd been avoiding Annabeth like the plague seemed to point in that direction. Of course it was a completely unfounded fear. I'd loved Annabeth but…I loved him too. (Not that I was going to admit that to him anytime soon).

I felt bad about sticking him in a situation where he was constantly on edge, as it really wasn't conducive to his recovery. But it was still better than camp. I wasn't sure if word had spread yet, but I'm pretty sure Jason would know by now. He still kept in pretty close touch with Frank, exchanging news from the camps. If he did…well, it was best for Nico to stay away. Jason could be pretty overprotective.

I didn't really know how he was feeling right now. He'd had such a bad week, between everything that'd happened with Hazel, all the nightmares, and trying to acclimate himself to my family. I knew it'd been hard on him, but I'd approached him with my Valentine's Day plans a few days ago, hoping for the best.

But as I watched him, I could see that the wasn't scared anymore.

He hadn't noticed me yet, but I could see that he was standing by the door. He was leaning against the back of the couch, an uncharacteristically easy look on his face, talking to my mom, probably about the our upcoming date, like it was nothing. Two weeks ago he would've panicked at the thought of talking to my mom. But now he acted like it was the easiest thing in the world.

He looked so…relaxed. Like he belonged here, like he'd been doing this for months. Like this wasn't technically our first date.

It didn't even look like he was putting up a front, acting like everything was fine when in reality he wanted to cut and run. I could usually tell when he was like that, there was always a tension in his body that he couldn't erase with a fake smile.

He looked genuinely happy for once.

The choice to bring him here proved to be in his best interest. After those first few days, the nightmares lessened in intensity before stopping altogether, to the point that we slept alone on Thursday night. He was getting along with my family too, actually holding conversations and getting used to all their quirks like my mom's doting and Paul's corny jokes.

It was like he was able to breathe again. It was like he was finally embracing all the new, wonderful things life had to offer. It was like he finally realized that people cared about him.

Once I was done being a total creep, I walked over and smiled at my mom and Nico. I wrapped my arm around Nico and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. He craned his neck and leaned back, smiling up at me. His real smile, gentle and lopsided.

I couldn't help but grin like a moron in return.

"Everything all set?" my mom asked cheerfully, already dressed up in her own outfit for tonight.

"Yeah, I think we'll head out now," I replied, grabbing my coat from the nearby coatrack. Nico shrugged on his aviator jacket, which had been resting draped over the couch.

"Have a good night boys," she grinned, waving at us as we walked out the door. She looked so giddy that I'm sure she was trying her hardest not to grab a camera and snap a few photos of our first date.

As we stepped outside, Nico grumbled "Why can't we just shadow travel? It'd be so much quicker."

"Because I don't want you falling asleep on me during the movie," I teased, wrapping my arm around his a little tighter, pulling him a little closer.

"I'm not going to fall asleep," he retorted. "And it'd be cheaper too!"

"C'mon, let me spend money on you. Besides, it's a only a quick ride and it's way too cold to walk," I joked as I stepped up to the curb to hail a cab. And, somehow, I doubted he wouldn't fall asleep, considering last night had been his first full night of sleep in a long time. Better safe than sorry, and I didn't want sleepy, grumpy Nico to ruin our first date.

Eventually we stepped out of the cab, much to Nico's relief, and were greeted with the sight of a little brick building decorated with twinkling white lights and greenery. I'd been so relieved to find a cute little Italian place that still had reservations open at such late notice. Nico just seemed relieved to get out of the cab, and I resolved to let him shadow travel us to the movie. Apparently Nico wasn't a huge fan of mortal travel methods.

We sat on the bench for a little while to let Nico get a little fresh air. We were silent, simply watching the cars whiz past us. "So…you're not nervous or anything?" I asked, finally broaching the subject that'd been bothering me.

He sighed in response. "I was nervous when you first asked me, but I've had a lot of time to think about…about everything. I kinda realized this is never going to turn into anything more if I don't try harder. I guess I'm still nervous, but I'm not going to let that stop me from doing something I really want to do."

"That's good," I reassured him, wrapping my arm around his shoulder. "We don't have to do this too often if it makes you that uncomfortable, but I know I want you to meet some of my mortal friends once everything settles down."

"I'll keep working on it," he maintained.

After a few more minutes we got up and walked inside, greeted with a warm gust of air and a cheerful waitress. We sat down across from each other at our table, and I found it impossible not to stare at Nico. We were actually doing this. This was really real. Right now, we were so blissfully normal. We were just one of many couples making googly eyes at each other, talking about arbitrary things, and just enjoying each others company.

We were almost done with dinner when disaster struck. Everything had been going to so well. We were enjoying a conversation about how school had been for me so far, and about how nice summer was going to be. Nico was actually enjoying his food for once, and eating quite a lot of it. Everything was good until Nico suddenly put his fork down and focused on something just over my shoulder.

"I think there's someone staring at you," he whispered, quickly averting his eyes and turning his attention back to his pasta in an attempt to look inconspicuous.

I immediately went to twist around in my seat, unwilling to let this special night be ruined by some stupid monster.

"Wait! Don't look," he hissed. "What if they're a monster!"

I, of course, ignored his advice and looked anyway.

Turns out, the person staring at me was worse than a monster.

It was Max. And I just about died on the spot.

See, Max was one of my mortal friends. He'd been one of the first people I'd met at Goode, other than Rachel, and for some reason he had seemed totally fine with the fact that I'd been blamed for blowing up the band room during orientation. Well, he was fine about that and every other shit thing that came up if you Google searched my name. He wasn't overly nosy like some of my other friends either. He was a nice guy, really, but I didn't need him disturbing our date. I'd never even considered that I would see someone I knew that night. There were hundreds of restaurants in the city, and Max just had to pick this one.

In hindsight I should have listened to Nico and ignored the guy staring at me. If they were really a monster, they'd come and get us eventually whether I engaged them first or not. And if I'd done that, Max would've brushed off seeing a glimpse of familiar black hair and continued his date with his girlfriend, Chloe, in peace. He never would've noticed us.

Turning around meant he caught a full glimpse of my face, which meant Max began waving like a moron. I watched in horror as he hurriedly spoke to Chloe, who smiled in my direction and waved too. Then he started walking over.

I turned around to see that realization was already dawning on Nico's face. He'd tensed up from his previously relaxed position. He looked like he was about to run.

I cursed under my breath and whispered, "Okay, just act natural. Everything's going to be fine."

He gulped and nodded in return, trying his best to use the breathing control techniques we'd been practicing.

Max weaved his way over to us quickly, greeting me with a punch to the shoulder and a hearty chuckle.

"Aha, look what we have here," he beamed, looking between the two of us, trademark grin on his face.

"H-hey, Max," I said, trying to keep my voice even. "Um, this is Nico."

"Y'know, if you wanted a date for Valentine's day, all you had to do was ask. I could've set you up with one of Chloe's friends, or one of the dozens of girls that think you're hot. You didn't have to spend tonight with this guy. Or is he your boyfriend?"

He obviously meant that last part as a joke. I'd never given any indication that…that I was bi. I'd talked about girls with them, like any normal guy. I'd even told them about dating Annabeth, back last September before I'd disappeared. Hell, they'd even met her on a few, brief occasions.

Nico's face immediately turned red, and a silence passed between us. Neither of us said anything to correct Max's assumption. We just sat there. The silence spoke for itself.

"O-Oh, um…I'll just…leave you to it then," he stammered, eyebrows raised. Instead of going back to his table, he backed up and made a beeline for the bathroom.

I cursed again, watching him go. "E-everything's going to be fine. I'll be right back!" I assured Nico, who was already panicking, before I got up and ran after Max.

When I found him, he was standing in front of the sinks, facing a mirror.

"H-hey," I greeted weakly. I hoped the conversation would go well. I always had a good time with Max, I would hate to see a friendship end over something like that.

"Hey. Um, sorry for rushing out like that. I've got nothing against you, and whatever you're doing with-with him. It's just kinda surprising, y'know? After you told us you broke up with Annabeth, I never would've expected this," he breathed, turning to lean against the sink and face me.

"Y-yeah," I started, rubbing the back of my neck nervously. "It was a surprise for me too."

"So…how long have you been, uh, dating…," he questioned, seemingly forgetting Nico's name for a moment.

"Nico," I supplied. "And it's been a bit over a month, ever since New Years. But it's been…complicated…for a long time now."

"That's great dude, really. You've seemed a lot happier since we came back from break. I never really asked why, but I guess he's the reason, yeah?" he asked, finally starting to wrap his mind around how much Nico must mean to me.

"Yeah. He's…pretty amazing. And thanks for being so cool about this whole thing…it isn't really how I wanted you to find out," I confessed sheepishly. It might not be how I'd imagined it, but this actually turned out a whole lot easier than anything I could've planned. I never would've know how to start the conversation in the first place.

"It's all good," he grinned, letting an easy smile slip back onto his face. I had to admit that smile was comforting. It meant I had at least one friend left at Goode.

"Thanks," I replied again, clapping him on the shoulder. "And do you mind maybe not saying anything yet? I want to do it myself."

"Of course, not a problem," he said.

I looked at him expectantly, trying to make sure everything really was alright and that this wasn't some kind of act. Gods, I felt like Nico, doing that.

"Jeez, everything's fine! Now get back to your date," he jested, pulling me towards the door.

"I could say the same to you," I ribbed, following him out.

We parted our separate ways after he once again assured me that everything was alright and that he wouldn't tell anyone, not even Chloe. I loved the girl, but she had zero filter, and I wasn't quite ready for the entire population of New York to know about me yet.

I sat down in front of Nico, who had his head between his hands, fingers twisted in his hair. I immediately got a little worried. I knew he'd been nervous before the date even started, and now he was confronted with what could have been a total mess.

"Nico? C'mon, everything really is okay. Max was totally cool with it, and he's not going to say anything. Seriously, it's fine," I gently reassured him, reaching across the table to push the hair out of his face.

"Really?" he looked up at me, eyes worried.

"Really," I grinned back.

After a second, the smile slipped back on his face and the tension began to gradually ease away.

"Now how about some dessert?" I asked.

To that, Nico smiled shyly back and nodded, the tension from his shoulders lifting.

Everything really was okay.

QUESTION!

Alright, so a little while back, I said I was considering doing one-shot prompts following this iteration of Percy and Nico after the story end.

What I NEED to know is if anyone is interested in seeing more after this story is over. If nobody really cares to see more, I'll drop the idea and probably stop writing more than random one-shots when (and if) they come to mind. I have no plans for another major (fucking legit novel length at this point) story.

So PLEASE let me know. PM or comment with your thoughts! If you've got any prompts, feel free to send those too!