PJatO || Nicercy || PJatO || Nicercy || The Prince of Pluto || Nicercy || PJatO || Nicercy || PJatO
Title: The Prince of Pluto – A Journey to the Stars
Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus
Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Rick Riordan for he created the awesomeness that is Nico di Angelo. And everything else related to Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus. 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.
Warnings: m/m, scifi AU, aliens, alpha/beta/omega dynamics, hurt/comfort, fluff, pining, explicit intercourse, oral, anal, knotting, f/f, m/f, polyamory (m/m/f)
Main Pairing: Nico/Percy
Side Pairings: Reyna/Annabeth, Nyssa/Piper, Octavian/Luke, Ethan/Alabaster, Jake/Will, Frank/Hazel/Leo, Jason/Calypso, Grover/Juniper, Charles/Silena, Chris/Clarisse, Malcolm/Katie, Bryce/Drew, Paul/Sally, Tristan/Beryl, Maria/Marie, Hades/Persephone, Poseidon/Amphitrite, Thanatos/Triton
Percy Jackson Characters: (by planet/asteroid of origin)
Sun: Will Solace, Octavian Simmons, Austin Lake, Kayla Knowles
Mercury: Luke Castellan, Chris Rodriguez, Travis Stoll, Connor Stoll, Cecil Markowitz
Venus: Piper McLean, Silena Beauregard, Michael Kahale, Drew Tanaka, Mitchell, Lacy
Earth: Perseus Jackson, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Ella, Ethan Nakamura, Tyson, Sally Jackson, Paul Blofis, Tristan McLean, Beryl Grace, Maria di Angelo, Marie Levesque
Moon: Calypso Nightshade, Zoe Nightshade, Phoebe
Mars: Clarisse la Rue, Frank Zhang
Vesta: Charles Beckendorf, Leo Valdez, Jake Mason, Nyssa Barrera
Pallas: Annabeth Chase, Malcolm Pace
Bellona: Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Hylla Ramírez-Arellano
Ceres: Katie Gardner, Miranda Gardner, Juniper
Jupiter: Jason Grace, Thalia Grace
Saturn: Kronos (King)
Chiron: Chiron, Grover Underwood, Gleeson Hedge
Uranus: Gaia (Queen), the Giants
Neptune: Poseidon (King), Amphitrite (Queen), Triton, Proteus, Kymopoleia, Benthesikyme, Rhode
Orcus: Bryce Lawrence
Pluto: Nico di Angelo, Bianca di Angelo, Hazel Levesque, Mrs. O'Leary, Small Bob, Hades (King), Persephone (Queen), Thanatos, Olethros, Makaria, Melinoe
Eris: Alabaster C. Torrington, Lou Ellen Blackstone
Summary: The moon-landing had changed the course of history when human made first contact. It opened Earth up to space-travel, exploring the solar system and their now allied planets. Chiron Academy is the leading high school training future space explorers.
Percy Jackson grew up dreaming of one day traveling the stars. When he gets into the academy, he makes a lot of new friends, among them his new crush the half-Plutonian Nico.
Things change when Nico confides in his friends that he is actually the prince of Pluto – and that Pluto is in the middle of a horrible war. Together, the group of their close friends, they decide to ditch school, steal a space-ship and go out into space alone and unsupervised to help.
The Prince of Pluto
A Journey to the Stars
Chapter 17: Pit-Stop on Vesta
Nyssa ruffled her hair, a glare etched into her face. Rubbing her face, she turned a little, looking at her girlfriend right next to her. The glare melted off her face as she saw Piper still deep asleep, hair messy, face scrunchy. Piper looked cute when she was asleep. Leaning down a little, Nyssa kissed her on the nose. It was a tight fit, the bed wasn't really meant for two people – they fit, but not really with a lot of space. Which was nice, cuddling like this. It also helped that Rachel was in the other bed, because Piper and Nyssa hadn't been dating for long and there would be a feeling of pressure if the two of them had a room all to themselves and were sleeping in the same bed, unmated teenage alpha and omega, sharing one bed. Temptation. There would be temptation. It also helped that Rachel was a beta, because Nyssa would be very territorial if there was another alpha not just in the same room with her but more importantly in the same room as her omega.
"Qui—iet", groaned Rachel from the other bed when Nyssa awkwardly climbed out.
She tried rolling over Piper without waking her, but she huffed and the bed squeaked a little and apparently Rachel was a very light sleeper. Which might just be a good thing too, probably. Though then the redhead hadn't been to bed for very long, she had taken the night-shift in the control-room. Carefully, Nyssa went to her closet and got changed, quickly combing her hair and putting it up in a messy bun before leaving the room. She stopped at a window, couldn't help it. The view. They were in outer space. They had gone past Mars last night. Her mind was doing some calculations as she reached the mechanics' room. She didn't know it if was entirely sound that Leo now doubled as a pilot – for now, he would simply be sitting in with Chris, learning from him and Ethan. They needed him to become a pilot, they needed a third, because on a rotation with two was just not enough. Still, Leo was a first-year and he should also be spending the most time in the mechanics room to learn as much from Beckendorf and the others.
"How's it going?", asked Nyssa as she entered the mechanics room.
"We'll have to make a pit-stop", declared Beckendorf with a frown. "Tank may last until Pallas. May. However, we don't know how safe it will be there. Vesta would be a better place."
They met up every morning to check the engine and all their equipment, at this point then usually just parting again. Finding something to do, or just relaxing. Sleeping, they tried to sleep as much as possible because they didn't know when something would require their attention for hours. They also occasionally had to fix things around here.
"Okay, someone should go tell the control-room", nodded Nyssa.
"And I think it's wonderful that you're volunteering, Nyssa", nodded Beckendorf.
Huffing amused, Nyssa just turned around and made her way to the control-room. Percy looked really tired where he sat on his chair, apparently having just gotten up himself. With him were Octavian – which only made him more tired usually, which was a mood in Nyssa's opinion too – and Chris and Leo. She frowned concerned at Leo.
"Beckendorf sends me, cap", called Nyssa out. "He came to the conclusion that we need to refuel. At latest by Pallas, but he suggests that we head toward Vesta for it, just to be sure."
"He suggests Vesta?", echoed Percy with a frown. "Okay, I... Huh. Hey. Great opportunity."
Suddenly, there was a broad grin on his lips as he pressed a few buttons and cleared his throat. "This is your captain speaking. I have just been informed that we are going to change course and make a quick pit-stop on Vesta. Everyone please take inventory of your sections and... personally too. We all left quickly at night, this is your opportunity to buy whatever you left behind and need."
"ETA for Vesta would be in ten hours", supplied Octavian with a glare.
"You heard the man. ETA for Vesta is ten hours. Get everything in check until then."
Percy closed the communication line and turned pleased toward them. "What? This was the one thing about being a captain that I was looking forward to! Announcements!"
"...You're a nerd, Jackson", commented Chris amused. "Can someone offer me some coffee?"
"Considering I'm running around the ship anyway, sure. Someone else want something?"
"Bacon sandwich", groaned Percy. "And a milkshake, please, I will love you, please?"
"...But you did have breakfast before coming here, right?", asked Nyssa amused.
"Shush. I have a high metabolism", huffed Percy with a pout.
"Coffee. Black", grunted Octavian.
Chuckling to herself, Nyssa made her way to the cafeteria. She smiled when she spotted Piper, hair still messy and her still wearing her pajamas. Walking over to her girlfriend, Nyssa kissed her head.
"You coulda woken me when you got up", grunted Piper before yawning.
"Why? You got like twenty more minutes to sleep, babe", grinned Nyssa.
Piper smiled up at her. This was weird. All of it. Having a girlfriend, on a space-ship, on their way to Pluto to sneakily do something. Absolutely ridiculous and dangerous and wild.
"We're gonna make a pit-stop on Vesta", whispered Nyssa softly.
She sat down, for just a moment, frowning. Her wings twitched. Big, brown leather-wings. Vestan wings. Vesta would be the first time she would be in a place where she would just be... normal. Regular. Sure, there were Beckendorf, Jake and Leo, there were some Vestans on the school, but in public, on Earth, people always stared at her wings. She looked different. On Vesta, she wouldn't look different. Piper frowned at her, reaching out to take her hand.
"I've just... I've never been to Vesta", whispered Nyssa softly. "Most of us haven't. We all left, just like this. And I... I hadn't even considered that I might end up... visiting Vesta for the first time."
"Oh", grunted Piper and leaning in to kiss her. "It's okay. We're going together."
That made Nyssa smile a little. Piper was amazing, she was compassionate and supportive. Okay. Time to fetch second breakfast for the captain and the coffees. Because some days, the mechanic was the errant girl, but that was okay, because to make a ship run, everyone had to do whatever job needed to be done and sometimes, that job was to make sure the guy flying the ship had enough caffeine. She'd get to fix something up later on, she knew. Besides, the other day, Ella had come and made a coffee-run for them – though, Nyssa suspected, that had mainly been for Tyson, because the chatty redhead totally had a huge crush on Tyson, which was adorable.
/break\
Jake was loitering in the infirmary. Well, not that that being used yet. No one got hurt. Will got to give Leo something against a stomach ache after he ate something that didn't agree with him. That was the most action this infirmary had seen so far. Most the time, Will was playing cards with Silena and Piper. Or watch his boyfriend loiter around.
"Vesta", hummed Jake, swirling on the chair. "I've never been."
Oh. That was why he was loitering. Will turned toward him, smiling just a little bit.
"C'mon. You could at least be useful while being here. Help me do inventory."
"...What for? I mean, what have you used from the infirmary since we got here?", grunted Jake.
"Well, not much. But I want to make inventory based on what we can get on Vesta", chuckled Will. "There is a base stock here. We took a bit more with us. But now I wanna check what we have and what we can get. So, you can help me instead of fretting about visiting Vesta, okay?"
Jake smiled softly, grateful that his omega offered him a distraction.
/break\
Nico did whatever he could. He envied those with a fixed job on the ship – the medics, the nutritionists, the pilots, the mechanics, the navigators. Sure, he should be glad that he had time. He could sleep, he could train. But he also felt useless with nothing to do. Others had a set schedule, shifts, things to occupy them with. Nico had the whole day open, like some sort of limbo. When Percy's shift ended, Nico occupied himself with Percy – usually giving him a back-rub, comforting him and also eating with him. When Percy left for his shift, Nico trained a lot with whoever was at the gym. And other than that, Nico was lost in limbo. He had no set schedule and set schedules helped with the keeping busy. He kept busy, as busy as he could – but there wasn't that much to do. Even those with set duties on the ship didn't have that much to do here.
"...What did you do to get punished like this?", asked Reyna behind him.
She had a towel around her neck, body sweaty, probably coming from the gym. Nico looked up from the shelf he was currently cleaning, he frowned curiously at her, a bit confused.
"What do you mean by punished?", wanted Nico to know.
"You're... You're cleaning up the common room", grunted Reyna. "You're polishing the shelf."
"Because it keeps me busy", replied Nico with a shrug. "I can't train all day. I also can't sit around all day either. I know some on the ship are enjoying the time off, sleeping, even studying. But I just... I just... I can't focus on studies but I need a distraction."
"You're cleaning up because it distracts you", grunted Reyna curiously, nodding.
She sat down on the couch right next to the shelf that he was kneeling in front of. After a moment, he returned to cleaning, unsure if Reyna wanted anything more from him.
"I'm sorry", whispered Reyna softly. "This must be hard for you. How are you doing?"
"I'm a nervous wreck. As can be seen by the fact that I'm polishing the lowest shelf, an unused shelf, in the common area that is nearly spotless as is", grunted Nico, before he paused, sitting cross-legged on the floor. "Every minute that I'm not occupying myself, I think about my parents. I wonder if they're dead, or if they're alive, if they're hurt, if they're scared. I wonder if Mak, Mel and Zag are alive or dead. I wonder if... if Maria and Marie are angry at us, or if they understand. I wonder if I ruined all of your lives with my rash decision-"
"Well, let me stop you there", interrupted Reyna, gentle but firm. "You didn't hold a gun to our heads and forced us on board of this ship. That was our decision. The decision of every single one on this ship. We all made this choice ourselves. So that is one thing you are not allowed to fret about. This is not yours to worry about. Each and every one of us has to deal with that ourselves."
"...Okay", muttered Nico, rubbing his face. "But still..."
"Still you have enough other things to fret about. And... And I know there's nothing I can say to assure you about anything, because... nothing about this is... sure. But if there's anything I can do for you, even if it's just... to talk, or to spar, or... to help you clean. Call me."
Nico smiled faintly and reached a large, black wing out to gently grace the other alpha, making Reyna smile in return. She was there for him. He had friends he could rely on. Closing his eyes, Nico took a deep breath. Right. He could rely on people. He should rely more on people.
/break\
Percy knew he had to be serious about this, he was the captain. This was a serious mission. But Vesta was not an active war-zone, it was at peace, it was a dwarf planet, it was far enough from Earth so no one who followed them could have possibly caught up with them again. And they were on a grocery-shopping trip. Grinning broadly to himself, he grabbed Nico's hand.
"Okay. Every department has made their grocery-list, we assigned additional people to help. Everyone who wasn't assigned to such a grocery-trip is free to do whatever they want. Shop for yourself, go eat, sight-seeing, whatever. We will meet back here in three hours. Do not be late. Do not go anywhere alone. Be at least in sets of two, everyone understood?"
His crew made sounds of confirmation before they all parted way. Percy did not let go of Nico's hand. Because both of them were not assigned to any set grocery-list, so they were off. Which meant they were going on a date on Vesta. They ran off the landing plate together, hand in hand. Both were laughing, it was good to hear Nico laugh again. Percy wasn't stupid, he knew the alpha was worrying a lot. Maybe this could be a distraction, if just for a bit.
"We're going to the market", declared Percy. "Leo said there is a market that is a lot of fun to be."
Nico smiled faintly and followed him. The market was close to the landing place. It was busy. Not too different from how the markets on Earth looked, but all the people. Most were Vestans and that wasn't something new. They saw Vestans every day, but up here, on Vesta, they actually wore traditional clothing. Robes in shades of brown and red, with bronze jewelry. They looked so amazing. And while the set-up was like a normal market, the things they sold were clearly alien.
"Okay. What do we get...?", hummed Percy curiously.
"Food", offered Nico with a faint smile, rubbing his thumb over the back of Percy's hand. "You keep sniffing the air and turning toward that food-cart over there, so let's start there and then walk while eating. How does that sound, love?"
"Like you know how to make me happy", declared Percy pleased.
Vestan food was heavy, very savory and with lots of carbs and breads. Also quite spicy. Percy shoved it into his mouth happily as they walked and shopped, talking lightly. About nothing heavy, just... happy things. How cute that dress would look on Hazel, how much Annabeth would hate this. Percy even bought something for his mom, because he thought she may love the brooch. That was very optimistic, because they didn't know when they'd get back. If they'd get back. And suddenly there were dark thoughts, in Percy's head, even though he was trying to take Nico's mind off of his own dark thoughts. But this time, it was Nico who pulled him out of his. He nudged Percy toward a dragon riding place. They weren't dragons, they were alien animals that just looked very much like how humans imagined dragons. But riding the not-dragons made both of them happy.
"This is beautiful", whispered Percy in awe as they stood on a hill, behind the dragon ranch.
The hill was overseeing the market on one side and a large, ruby-red lake on the other side. Nico smiled faintly as the two sat down. Yes, it was special to him too, he had never been to Vesta before, but this was the very first alien planet that Percy was visiting, his very first touch with another alien culture like that. It was amazing to see the excitement on Percy's face.
"It... It is", agreed Nico, gently grasping Percy's hand as they sat side by side.
/break\
Hazel had never been anywhere aside from Pluto and Earth and she virtually had no memories of Pluto. Her, Ella, Lou Ellen and Frank were with Leo and Tyson to help the mechanics buy more parts. Leo took the lead, because he had actually been to Vesta before, repeatedly. He always went with his dad, and his mom. The excitement of being here was radiating off of him.
"Okay, best we split up", declared Leo. "Ty, over there's the shop for this half of the list."
"Ella goes with Tyson", added Ella quickly.
Lou Ellen looked between Leo and Tyson for a moment, then she smirked at Hazel. "Yeah, I'm going to join Tyson and Ella. Hazel and Frank go with Leo. We'll meet back here in an hour to check what we're still missing, how's that sound to everyone?"
The six of them nodded and parted ways, leaving Hazel a bit confused as to why Lou Ellen had smirked at her like that. Shrugging to herself, she turned to follow Leo down the street.
"Do not get distracted", ordered Leo, side-eyeing Frank. "I know there's lots of shiny things on the market, but the sooner we get the errands done that we have to run, the more time we have to look around. I'll show you where you can have the best frinklesteins, okay?"
"Fr.. what?", grunted Frank with a cute, confused look on his face that made both others laugh.
"They're a delicacy of this part of Vesta, but like... this is a small port-town. Not the fancy capital or anything. So it hasn't made it off planet yet. Call it a secret tip from your local Vestan."
Leo winked with a grin, which made Frank smile at him. Which in return made Leo's stomach feel all weird, so he decided to quickly lead the way. They had errands to run. No time for Frank-butterflies or anything. No time for that dry-mouth thing that looking at Hazel's smile did to him. Nope. He had to get it together, focus on the task. No confusing weird feelings.
/break\
Charles and Silena went dancing together, after they finished their respective grocery-lists. Dancing next to the red lake and then eating local fish-stew together, the one that tasted nearly how Charles' father made it. They checked in with the rest of Charles' team half-way through the three hours that Percy had given them. This was good, for everyone. Silena had been noticing how being cooped up in the space-ship was slowly getting to them. None of them were used to this kind of situation, the most they had done was the weekend trip test drive. So far, they had been flying for about two weeks. Two weeks stuck on the ship with most of them not having anything to do. They needed enrichment. And while Silena tried not to put it that way, because it made everyone feel like zoo animals, it was true. They gave captive animals enrichment, they needed to do the same for people.
"You bought games", whispered Charles with a fond smile.
He kissed her cheek as he helped her put them away in the common area. "Yes. We all took the basics with us and maybe some private property. But on their down time, everyone is either in the gym, training, or cooped up in their own rooms with the books or sleeping. We need something to bring the crew together and to let them... distract themselves."
Charles smiled at her proudly. These were the kind of things that others wondered about and didn't know what to do with. But his clever, brilliant girlfriend, she knew how to make people feel at home, feel loved. It was silly, perhaps, but a crew should be a family, should be more than work. A crew made up of teenagers definitely needed some guidance. Some help. As the third years, they had to step up their game, they had to watch out for their underclassmen.
/break\
Percy hated seeing Nico cry. He didn't know what to do. Part of him wanted to go to Nico and he wanted to hold Nico and tell him that it was going to be alright. However, Percy knew that there was a reason Nico cried while Percy was in the shower. Because Nico didn't want Percy to see him cry. And he didn't know if it was pride, if it was confusion, or of Nico really just needed the privacy. Either way, Percy knew that it was a conscious choice that Nico was only crying when Percy wasn't in the room and Percy wasn't going to push when Nico so clearly wanted his privacy. So Percy carefully walked back into the bathroom and took more time.
He was being deliberately loud as he entered the bedroom again. Nico was laying unmoving, pretending to be asleep and Percy let him. This was complicated Percy didn't know how to behave, how to help, so he gave Nico his space when he needed it.
"Hey, babe, you awake?", whispered Percy softly, gently brushing Nico's curls away.
"Mh...", grunted Nico, stretching. "Morning, amore. You off to your shift?"
"Yeah. You just keep sleeping, mh?", suggested Percy, voice sweet.
He leaned down to kiss Nico's temple, a gentle brush of lips. He could see that Nico's eyes were still red. He didn't comment. They were confined to this enclosed space, it didn't feel fair to prod. Instead, he went to work. To bring them to Pluto as soon as possible.
Author's note: Next chapter is the last stop before they reach the warzone, and Nico and Percy are going to, ah, have some fun *wiggles eyebrows* before things get potentially dangerous ;D
