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Title: Percy and Nico's Heart – Writer's Month 2022
Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus
Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Rick Riordan. Aside from the Gods, they belong to the old Greeks. This fanfiction and its OCs on the other hand are entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.
Tags: m/m, body switch, fluff, getting together
Main Pairing: Nico/Percy
Percy Jackson Characters: Perseus Jackson, Nico di Angelo, Hazel Levesque, Mrs. O'Leary
Godly Characters: Hades, Hecate
Summary: Writer's Month Prompts: heart + body switch. Fed up with Nico's endless pining, Hecate decides to intervene with a little magic. The next morning, Percy wakes up in Nico's body.
Percy and Nico's Heart
Writer's Month 2022
Percy woke up in the morning confused. The first thing he noticed was just how comfy he was. But the more the fog of sleep lifted, the more he realized that this wasn't the comfy he was used from his own bed. Soft sheets of a material he had never felt beneath his fingers before. So he cracked open an eye and looked around and yup, sure enough this was so not his bedroom.
"Where am I..." Percy trailed off, noticing how weird his voice sounded. "What is going on...?"
He rubbed his face and looked at his hands. His hands that did not look like his hands. Beyond the different skin-tone and the way these fingers seemed longer, more elegant, there was a thick silver skull-ring on his ring-finger, with ruby eyes staring at Percy. Now that ring, that was the very first thing here that he recognized. That belonged to Nico. With the context of Nico, Percy also recognized those hands. Those were also Nico's. Which was really, really weird.
Slowly, he got out of the bed and walked over to the mirror in the corner to stand before it. And the hands were not the only thing that belonged to Nico. The whole body did. Percy lifted a hand, spreading his fingers, waving at his mirror-image and it waved back. Holy shit what was going on.
He looked around wildly. The walls were like black marble, the sheets were black but there were red curtains around the four poster bed. Everything here did look like it belonged to Nico, even the Panic! at the Disco and Fall Out Boy posters at the wall kind of checked out.
Percy walked over to the large glass doors leading out onto a balcony, quickly opening it and walking out and oh boy. This sure was the underworld. Creepy and dark as ever. Though, the view from up here was pretty amazing too. He looked around in total awe. He'd been down to the underworld before, for quests. Never taken the time to really enjoy the view.
"Okay," Percy whispered beneath his breath. "I am... in Nico's body... in the underworld. Okay."
Which it most definitely wasn't. Okay, that was. He needed to do something. Unsure what.
"Son," the door opened harshly and Hades stuck his head in. "Ah. You're up already. What a pleasant surprise. Come down then, it's time for breakfast."
"I'm... Percy..." Percy trailed off, unsure how to say this without sounding insane.
Though Hades' reaction startled him as the lord of the underworld groaned. "No. No, son, I told you before, not before I've had at least three cups of coffee. I can't endure your Percy rants on an empty stomach and without coffee, if I have to hear one more time how pretty his eyes are, I will throw myself off that balcony and straight into the pits of Tartarus itself!"
"What? No! I'm Percy-"
"-'s future husband, yes, yes, yes," Hades rolled his eyes. "If you want to wax poetry about Percy, please go and seek out Hazel to get it out of your system and then come downstairs to breakfast."
With that, the god left. And wait what. How pretty his eyes were? Percy's husband? Huh?
Okay, no time to dwell on that. Hades had just said Hazel was down here. She could probably help. Determined, he headed out of Nico's bedroom and into the hall. Uhm... very long hall with too many doors. Damn it. How was he supposed to find Hazel here...?
"Hazel?" Percy called out loudly, trying his luck. "Haze? Ha—aze—el?"
"Why—y are you yelling this early in the morning?" Hazel groaned as she stuck her head out of the door three over, wearing purple pajamas and hair still wrapped. "What's wrong?"
"Thank you," Percy groaned and ran over to hug her. "You're here. I'm so glad."
"Oh," Hazel's voice softened as she hugged him. "Did... Did you have another nightmare about Bianca? It's okay, I'm right here, yeah? You still got me."
Ouch. While Percy had never forgotten Bianca and knew her death had hurt Nico, he had not expected for the other to still have nightmares about her death. His gut twisted at that thought.
"No, no, no," Percy took a step back. "I'm not Nico. I'm Percy. I can't explain this, but I went to bed in my room, in New York, and woke up in... this body, in Nico's bed."
Hazel looked concerned. She cupped Percy's cheeks – squishing them, really. And then she brought his face closer, looking deep into his eyes, as though she was looking for something. When she took a quick step back and looked at him startled, he figured she had found what she was looking for.
"Okay," Hazel whispered, but then her voice dropped even more as she averted her head, clearly not meaning for Percy to catch that second part. "Nico, how hard did you wish to be inside of Percy...?"
This morning was definitely too confusing for Percy, he just wanted to go back to that comfy bed and sleep some more. However, he'd like to be in his own body for that. He shook his head.
"Can you help me? We need to get Nico here and figure out what happened and how to undo it."
Hazel quickly looked left and right before shoving Percy back toward Nico's room, closing the door behind them. With a heavy sigh did Percy go over to the bed to sit down. Really comfy. Yawning, he leaned back onto the bed and closed his eyes. Hazel cleared her throat, gaining his attention. He opened his eyes again and turned to look at her, watching her pace in front of the bed.
Before either of them had to come up with something did a big, barking beast barge in through the shadows. On top of Mrs. O'Leary sat Percy's body, disheveled and still wearing his bed clothes too (boxers and a worn-out Little Mermaid shirt). Once he climbed off the dog, Mrs. O'Leary jumped onto the bed, yelping happily as she slobbered Percy's face.
"He—ey, girl," Percy laughed, ruffling her fur. "Good girl, yes you are."
"Percy," Percy's voice spoke, but the sour look on his face sure was Nico's.
"Nico," Percy tried to push past the dog. "Can you explain to me what happened? Hazel said something about you wishing to be inside me...? What...?"
It was super weird to see his own face turn beet red like that. Hazel cleared her throat, looking sheepish and embarrassed as she quickly excused herself and rushed out of the room. Nico grunted and sat down next to Percy and Mrs. O'Leary on the bed, his eyes on Percy. Probably as fascinated by seeing his own body from the outside like that. Percy looked back at him straight.
"I think I can explain that," and just like that, Hecate materialized in the room. "I've been over a lot lately and, much like Hades, have grown tired of the pining. True Love's Kiss can solve this."
She smiled mischievously as she disappeared in a puff of smoke once again. Slowly, Percy's confusion lifted as everything fell together. Hades' comment about Percy's eyes and Percy's husband, Hazel's strange comment earlier. Did... Nico like him? He felt his cheeks heating up at the thought and, without thinking about it, he leaned in to peck his own lips. When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer looking at himself but rather at Nico. True Love's Kiss, huh?
"Okay, listen," Percy cleared his throat. "Let's unpack all of that much, much later. Because it is way too early and I'm still really tired, okay?"
He yawned widely and stretched before collapsing back onto the bed and closing his eyes.
"What...?" Nico blinked owlishly. "Percy, you can't just kiss me and then go to sleep?!"
/break\
Hades glared at the clock in irritation. Why did he even bother calling his children for breakfast? With a heavy sigh did he straighten up and make his way upstairs to Nico's room, with a plate of croissant and strawberry marmalade. Nico should eat something. After knocking briefly, he opened the door to peek in. The first thing he saw was the mass of Mrs. O'Leary's fur. He'd told that boy often enough not to let the dog sleep on his bed like that. With another sigh did he walk past the dog to put the plate down on Nico's nightstand. He paused when the plate hit the wood, because he actually caught sight of his son then. Nico, asleep, curled together around Percy from behind, arms wrapped around Percy's midsection and nose buried in between Percy's shoulder-blades.
"Well, I'll be damned," Hades muttered to himself. "Didn't think he'd get his act together."
With a pleased smile did he reach out to ruffle Nico's hair in praise. Was that what Nico had tried to tell him earlier? Not a rant about Percy, but a 'Percy stayed the night'? Shaking his head, Hades headed out of the bedroom again and closed the door quietly behind himself.
"Father," Hazel was just walking out of her own bedroom. "Uh, about Nico..."
"I already saw," Hades sighed and shook his head.
At that, Hazel looked worried. "You did?"
"And we will have words about him having a boy stay over without telling me first," Hades looked at his daughter sternly before cracking the smallest smile. "Though I am glad he finally found the courage to tell Percy how he feels. And this is surely going to be advantageous for me, with my brother. Poseidon and I are rarely allied."
Steps behind him, high heels clicking on the stones. Not Persephone, she was with Demeter right now. That limited things, because not many who lived in the castle wore high heels. A few steps later and Hecate fell into step with him, a mischievous smile on her face.
"I admit, I helped the boys along a little," Hecate winked. "Helped Percy learn Nico's heart."
Huh. Oh well, as long as the pining would finally stop and Hades would get some peace again.
/break\
"I have had a crush on you ever since I ran into you in New Rome, when I didn't remember you. I think because I saw you... for yourself, for the first time. There was always... I always still looked at you as the excited kid, or I looked at you with the guilt over Bianca. But without our past, I saw you for who you are and I... kinda had a crush on you before I remembered you."
Nico looked at him in confusion. "And that... didn't go away even after you remembered?"
With a slight blush did Percy shake his head. "No. Because... I remembered everything you've done for me in the past. And then... Ever since the war ended, I do think we grew closer? We've become friends and I... I mean, the kiss worked, I feel like that says it all."
"I like the words," Nico still looked so confused. "I mean, I'm just... I've been in love with you since before I knew how to recognize romantic love, I think? So this is... a bit overwhelming."
"Oh. You were?" Percy's blush darkened. "Okay. That is... uhm..."
"A lot to unpack, yeah," Nico heaved a sigh and laid back down on the bed.
"Can we instead nap some more?" Percy asked, around a mouthful of croissant. "Please?"
Nico grunted his confirmation and opened his arms for Percy, who gladly joined him again, smiling.
~*~ The End ~*~
Author's note: Again one I struggled with figuring out what to do with but then I thought "oooh Percy stuck in Nico's body hearing Hades be exasperated! fun way of getting together!" and here we are ;D