Percy and Nico had been boyfriends for a while now, but they had only gone on a handful of proper dates. Going into the mortal world had the risk of monster attacks so they tried to avoid it. (Though Percy had been conversing with the gods about getting some sort of monster repellent on an apartment for him and his boyfriend). Monsters tend to come from all around the world just to meet two of the sons of the big three together. Sure, they could kill the monsters easily, but it could get quite annoying during a movie, dinner, or basically any circumstance. You get the point, they can't go on dates as frequently as they would both like.
That's what led to Percy in the pavilion at twelve o'clock in the morning with matches, a table cloth, candles, a wagon, and a bunch of food. Percy had gotten Ella to talk to the harpies about laying off him and the son of Hades for one night.
Percy had been setting this up for about an hour, determined to make it special for their five year anniversary. All the tables had been pushed aside except for one that had the dinner/breakfast food on it with a bunch of lit candles on it, the table cloth placed over the wood. In the wagon was a gift Percy had made for Nico. All that was left now was for Percy to get his beautiful boyfriend out of his cabin and over here.
Careful not to make a sound, Percy slipped out of the pavilion and skipped over to the Hades cabin. Percy knocked on the door and before anyone had the time to respond he opened the door to find the son of Hades talking to a ghost girl with brown-hair and fair olive skin. Bianca di Angelo.
"Nicooooo, you're not supposed to be doing that. It's unhealthy," Percy said, making Nico quickly turn around in surprise.
"Percy! You scared me. Don't worry, I haven't been doing it every night. Just tonight, because… um…" Nico looked like he regretted saying anything. He was nervous about something. Percy would have to talk to him about it later.
"Okay, good, because I can't have you dying before our date." Percy grabbed Nico's wrist and helped him up.
"Our… what?" Nico looked over at Bianca as if she knew anything about this. She giggled at him.
"Well, have a good date, amore." She winked, as she said the next part, "And good luck." Percy and Nico were left confused for two different reasons.
Percy repositioned his hand that was on Nico's wrist so he was holding the other's hand. Nico squeezed Percy's hand.
"Nico, c'mon. I wanna take you on a date. It's our five year anniversary." Percy explained.
"O-okay, lemme just grab something." Nico let go of Percy's hand to grab something from under his bed. He put it in his pocket before Percy could see it.
Nico was already dressed in skinny jeans and a baggy sweatshirt that looked absolutely adorable on him. He had probably just went on a walk in the forest even though Will had told Nico sleep was an important part of everyone's day and helped energize you to get ready for another day.
"Okay, let's go." Nico said, grabbing Percy's hand again. Percy latched on. They walked to the pavilion whispering to each other so they didn't wake other campers.
"Look, Neeks, I set up a date! And I made sure no harpies would interrupt us. Plus, I got a surprise for you later," Percy said, winking.
Nico was looking at the pavilion, but it had all the tables pushed aside. One table was in the center. It had candles and a homemade meal on it. The candles cast a flickering glow on the table and LED lights were taped all around. It looked positively magical. Nico couldn't believe his boyfriend did this for him.
The pair sat down at a table. Not before quickly sacrificing some food for the gods. Can't have Zeus getting mad at them, now can we? Nico grabbed what looks like a crepe stuffed with melted cheese, tomato sauce, and some meat. It was delicious.
Nico's eyes widened and he looked up at his boyfriend who was staring at him lovingly. "You made these? They're absolutely amazing, Perce!" He crammed his mouth with more of Percy's concoction.
Percy soaked in the praise and his smile widened, "Thanks, Neeks!" Nico thought the boy before him was the embodiment of sunshine. He was beauty personified. Nico was lucky to have him as his own. Nico loved Percy with all his heart.
After they were done with the meal, Nico got up and grabbed the son of the sea gods hands. Nico helped him up and seeing a radio on a counter off to the side he went over there and flipped it on. He set it to a station that always played slow dance music.
"Oh, Nico you know I can't dan-" Percy started, Nico stopped him by covering his mouth. He felt Percy smile under the smaller of the two's hand. Percy looked at Nico with love, eyes sparkling.
Nico took off his hand, pressing a quick kiss up to the other's lips. When he pulled back, he continued staring at Percy, eyes soft. "Don't say that, I'll teach you."
Time went by and Percy didn't get any better. They were fine settling with that. Maybe steel toes were part of Nico's Hades powers. With the amount of times Percy was stepping on him and he didn't feel anything anymore, it must be. Or maybe that's numbness. Well, either way, Nico was happy with his partner's dumbass.
After about ten minutes of dancing, it happened. Percy tripped and Nico didn't catch him fast enough. Percy's arms were flailing as he fell into the table they were eating at. It all happened in slow motion. Percy's flailing arms knocked into the table, effectively making a candle fall over. Nico then picked up his Percy. Next, the table caught on fire.
"Ow," the demigod said, rubbing his -probably bruised- back. Then he caught sight of the table, which was smoldering in flames. "Oops." He turned to Nico who had a hand in his pocket, obviously in the process of grabbing something. "Well, I guess I ruined this date. I hope you still know I lo-" For the second time, Percy was interrupted, though this time by lips. Nico's lips. On his. After Nico pulled back he kneeled on the ground with a small box in his hands.
Nico said, "There are many reasons I love you, but because we have so little time on this earth, I will give you three. You are selfless, you would give up anything to make just one person happy for the slightest bit of time. You are kind to every soul, no matter if they are good or bad. Your smile could light up a room, however dark it may be. I think I fell in love with you the moment I saw your beautiful face and you saved me. Maybe what I love most about you is your helpfulness. I have no doubt you would drop everything right now if you saw a camper getting attacked by a monster. I hope we have a bright and happy future together because I don't know how I would live if you weren't by my side. Gods, Perce, I'm so in love. What I'm really trying to say is, Percy Jackson, love of my life, savior of many, and all around ray of sunshine, will you marry me?"
And with a burning table behind the pair, tears of joy leaked out of Percy's eyes as he helped his boyfriend up and wrapped Nico up in a bone crushing hug.
"Yes!"
