Day 16: Tuesday
"Nico!"
Ah, the voice.
He liked that voice.
It was so familiar, yet he could never tell who it belonged to.
Strong arms wrapped around him, lifting him off the ground.
Oh. He must have fallen asleep on it.
"Seriously, what were you thinking? You're freezing cold. Why the hell were you sleeping on the floor?", the voice scolded.
He shivered.
Yeah, it really was quite cold.
Nico felt himself being lain down on the bed, something soft wrapping around him, next to his normal blanket.
Then he felt the person getting beneath the blankets as well, wrapping his arms around Nico and pulling him close.
Nico leaned back against him.
He was so nice and warm.
Then again, right now anybody would be warmer than him.
He felt a face beside his own, gently kissing his cheek and jaw.
"I love you so much, Nico."
Nico felt both need and guilt welling up inside him.
A whine escaped his lips.
He didn't deserve this.
"Shh.", came the voice again, hands gently moving over his chest and stomach.
"I love you."
Nico's shoulders began to relax.
He felt another kiss on his neck.
Nico leaned back against the person.
"Nico...", the voice whispered and Nico sighed contently.
He heard a chuckle against his ear and began drifting back off into sleep.
It simply felt too good in his arms.
.
He woke up to all three of his friends making one hell of a ruckus in front of the door.
"Where's the goddamn key?", came Will's voice.
"Nico? Open the door!", Percy called, hammering against it.
"Percy, what did you do to him yesterday?!", Jason hissed.
Nico groaned.
What?
What time was it?
He looked around to his bedside table and his heart fluttered at the sight of the card and the gift, time momentarily forgotten.
Tuesday seemed to be sweets day, for it was another cellophane bag filled with goodies.
This time, it seemed to be an assortment of toffee and fudge.
He wanted to grab the card, but the ruckus in front of the door pulled him back into reality and he looked at the time.
It was 11am.
Oops.
He jumped up, grabbed the bag of candy and walked over to the door, noting how he was still completely dressed with jacket and all.
Oops.
He unlocked the door just as Percy and Will seemed to wish to lunge at it.
Nico merely sidestepped them, opening the cellophane bag while they tumbled inside and onto the ground.
"Nico!", all three of them called and went to hug him.
He let them.
After all, he must have worried them beyond belief if they had been up since 6-7am, waiting for him to come around.
He could practically picture them standing in front of his door the whole entire time, calling for him and trying to find the key.
He should probably put it back beneath the pot.
"Sorry, guys. I must have overslept.", he muttered and held out the bag of candy.
Jason sighed.
"Well, Percy told us what you two did yesterday, so it's not really surprising."
Nico's eyes widened and he looked around at Percy in alarm.
But Percy only laughed. "Yeah, you should have seen him in the ice. Like a freaking pro."
He winked at Nico.
Nico felt relief washing over him.
He still held out his bag to them.
"So, do you want some or should I eat them all by myself? Did anybody get me breakfast?", he asked, watching pleased as Jason, Percy and Will took out pieces of Treacle Toffee, Coffee Fudge and Raspberry Ruffles.
Will eyed him oddly, then looked over to Percy.
Uh-oh.
Nico was about to say something when Jason held out a bunch of folded together napkins out to him.
"Breakfast!", Nico said, way too enthusiastic but not caring right now.
Jason and Will chuckled, while Percy looked him up and down.
Then he looked over to the bed.
Nico wondered what he was thinking.
He devoured his cold toast and Will got him some orange juice while he flopped back down onto the bed.
Jason raised an eyebrow at the blanket. "Interesting design."
Nico grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I know, right?"
Then his gaze travelled to the note.
He stuffed down the last piece of toast hastily and bit off half of his brownie, giving the other half to Jason who only chuckled and too it.
Then Nico gingerly took the note.
[Dear Nico,
I love you so much.
I know how difficult this whole situation must be to you.
I'm really sorry I can't just come out to you.
All I can hope for is that you'll understand on the 25th.
I need you, Nico.
But I also need to do this to show you how much I care for you.
How much I love you.
Because I don't just want you, I want all of you. Including your love.
I don't want you to accept me because I made you fancy gifts, but because you like me, Nico.
I hope you liked the blanket. I know it's a bit very colorful, but I took a liking to it.
I keep picturing us beneath it.
Hope you like the candy.
Seriously, so many different kinds D;
Have a nice 16th day of December.
Only 9 days left.
I love you,
Your secret Admirer
P.s.: I actually fell asleep next to you. If I ever have to pick you up off the floor in the middle of the night again, I will NOT let you out of the bed for the rest of the day AND have a talk to whoever should be responsible for it.
P.P.s.: That does not mean you have to sleep on the floor whenever you want me to get into bed with you.
P.P.P.s.: Forget the P.P.s., that just makes me sound like a pervert.
Love you!]
Nico found himself laughing.
His friends were watching him, Jason with a raised eyebrow, Will startled and Percy surprised.
He held out the note and jumped off the bed.
"I'll get changed."
"What do you mean? You're already dressed.", Will said, frowning as Jason read the note.
"You mean, he's STILL dressed.", Percy muttered, looking over Jason's shoulder at the note.
"Wait, you slept in your clothes? Why?", Will asked.
Nico sighed and shrugged. "It was an accident."
"Like the time you fell asleep in your boxer shorts for your admirer to admire you some more?"
Nico flushed. "That...I...it wasn't like that!", he called and went to his wardrobe, flustered.
He took off his jacket and put it on its usual hook, grabbing some clothes and stomping off towards the bathroom as Will laughed loudly.
When he was about to shut the door, however, Percy slipped inside.
"Percy, what the...", he muttered, taken aback, but Percy closed the door behind him, locking it.
"Nico, I need to talk to you."
"Percy, not in my bathroom!"
"Yes."
He pulled out Nico's camera.
Nico blinked.
Great. Second time out with a friend alone and promptly forgetting the camera with them AGAIN.
"Nico, why did you sleep on the floor?", Percy asked, pulling his hand up as Nico tried to take the camera.
Nico scowled. "It was an accident."
"You ran off without even letting me say anything."
Nico turned his head sideways, feeling guilty. "I...you..."
He sighed. "I'm sorry, Percy. I guess I lost my head right there. I just...it hurts, you know? It hurts a lot. To imagine oneself with somebody while knowing it will not be. It...it makes you feel...so hopeless...helpless..."
Percy's expression turned soft. "I know...I'm sorry, Nico. I didn't mean to make you feel that way. Actually, I…"
Nico shrugged it off. "It's ok. I'm sorry it had to end that way.", he cut him off and looked away, wanting to end this conversation.
He eyed his camera.
Percy sighed annoyed, but followed his gaze and chuckled pained, passing it to him.
"I looked through the pictures. You might want to first look through them by yourself before showing them to the other two."
That sounded a lot as if Percy had somehow managed to get a snapshot of them kissing.
He frowned and started up his camera.
"Percy? What are you doing in there with Nico? I swear, if you're doing something weird...", came Will's voice from the other side of the door.
"Nico? Is everything ok?", Jason called.
Percy chuckled. "I'm just showing Nico the advantages of being able to control water."
"What?! Nico! Don't give up your virginity to that creeper!", Will wailed loudly, hammering on the door.
"Percy, I swear, if you do something to Nico..."
"Guys, he's standing next to me laughing his ass off like a doofus. Everything is fine, he's just being a prick. Now, Percy, get out. I want to take a shower.", Nico ordered and pushed him to the door, his face dark red.
He had found the pictures, all right.
Out of the forty the camera had taken after one another, the last five showed Percy and Nico, lips connecting, with Nico's face pink and Percy's gaze wanting.
Since the pictures were tilted, he guessed Percy had dropped the camera when he had begun ravaging Nico.
He so had to delete those.
Percy laughed loudly. "Want me to wash your back?"
"NO!", came the united cry from Will and Jason.
Nico rolled his eyes, unlocked the door and pushed him out wordlessly.
Seriously, that guy.
.
They all lectured him, of course.
He let them, knowing they just cared about him.
His muscles really did ache quite a lot, but he didn't point it out to not upset Percy, who was way too enthusiastic about telling the other two all they did.
Except the kissing, to Nico's relief.
He didn't want to know what Jason would think if he knew Nico kissed both Will and Percy when they had had their quality time together.
He also didn't want to think of what his admirer would think.
Whoever it was.
His gaze hushed over to the note.
'I actually fell asleep next to you.'
A smile hushed over Nico's face and he wrapped himself up in his Christmas blanket some more.
He watched his friends over at the drawer with the DVD's, bickering.
Percy was all for going skating again, Will wanted to watch Dr. Who, even though he didn't own the DVD's himself and would have to go begging around the Camp, while Jason wanted to watch Disney's Hercules for some odd reason.
Nico smiled to himself.
What heroes they were.
He remembered Percy telling him years ago that it was ok to be a child every now and then.
Well, he had been right.
"How about a game of Mythomagic?", he suggested and all three looked around at him.
"Sure!", they readily agreed.
Nico smirked to himself and watched them hurrying over each other to get to his hiding place first.
They sure were endearing.
They actually managed to play cards by themselves now, though it took them quite some time to decide what to play and then they still misinterpreted the results.
Percy still didn't understand why he couldn't move with Poseidon first but Nico was pleased to see he didn't want to play any 'Please rape my butt'-cards anymore.
Jason was getting better and better, pulling some pretty good moves and even getting to Nico at one point, though Nico got him back two rounds later, taking most of his points.
Will had most figurines again, but still had no clue as to how to use them correctly.
But at least he didn't want to rid the board off the figurines again like last time.
So, all in all, they made pretty quick progress.
Nico was sitting on a pillow on the floor, the blanket still wrapped around him, looking down at his cards.
He could finish this game quickly or prolong it.
He went for prolonging it.
Playing with these dorks was way too much fun.
"So, what did you two do yesterday?", he asked Jason and Will while Percy played a monster card on Will, making 200 points damage.
Not bad.
"Actually, I IM-ed Frank yesterday. Hazel sends you her love and she said Reyna told her to tell you that you better call her soon, she's worried."
Nico hesitated.
He had thought about calling Reyna and Hazel, but hadn't wanted to trouble them.
He had a feeling both of them would know instantly something was up and he didn't really know how to explain the whole situation with the admirer.
Hazel would love it, of course.
She'd be thrilled to find he had not only found a home and friends, but also a person to love him as a partner.
She had taken the news of his…'preferences' a lot better than he had expected after all.
Not that that was a bad thing.
It was great, really.
He had been worried out of his mind she'd try to tell him how wrong it was and whatnot, but she had only hugged him and said she was proud of him to be so brave and tell her.
She took it as an act of trust.
And instead of it pushing them further apart, it bonded them even closer together.
It was Reyna he was worried about.
To him, she was like a sister, even if not by blood.
She cared for him deeply and they had bonded quite a bit during their travelling together.
She had taken the news similar to Hazel, hugging him and telling him it was ok.
But she was also quite protective.
He was almost certain she wouldn't take the news of a 'mysterious admirer' very well.
Nico could almost picture her grabbing each of his friends and taking them to Argentum and Aurum for questioning, not letting them off until she knew exactly who it was and why and if his feelings for Nico were strong enough and if it was certain he'd be able to make Nico happy.
Nico sighed.
It wasn't as if he didn't like that. He did.
He loved it.
But he was also worried about his admirer.
Especially if Reyna decided that he wasn't suitable and declared war on him or something.
He could already picture her sharpening her weapons.
"Thanks, I guess I'll call her later, then.", he muttered, playing a card and thus kicking Will out of the game.
"Gee, thanks, Nico. Well, I went to the infirmary yesterday. Nothing new there. A few wounded kids from the arena, your Ares boy is making great progress with the spear, by the way, but otherwise all is quiet and well.", Will told him and Nico smiled at the thought of Bill.
It was good to know he was doing well.
His thoughts drifted off to how he used to be when he was younger.
When Bianca had died and he had found out he was son of Hades.
By now, he was glad Hades was his dad.
He might be a bit weird by times, but actually, he was really trying to be a good dad.
Nico kind of felt bad for not having visited him at all lately.
But with Will forbidding him to use his powers (for good reason, of course) he really didn't fancy travelling across the country just to get to a different entrance to the Underworld.
He wondered faintly whether he should have gotten him a Christmas gift.
Then again, Hades was not only a god but also the god of the riches of the earth.
So, yeah, he kind of had everything already.
Plus, if he got him something, he'd have to give Persephone something too.
If he gave something to Persephone, he'd also have to give something to Demeter.
And if he started that, he could just as well start giving every god in existence a Christmas gift.
Ok, maybe he shouldn't do it, then.
Not that he had really planned on anything in the first place.
He looked around at the others, wondering vaguely if they got something for their dads.
Percy met his gaze, raising an eyebrow in question.
Nico blinked and looked back down at his cards.
They weren't as awkward around each other as Will and he had been, but it was still not the same.
Then again, every time he looked at Percy, their kiss came rushing back to his mind.
It had been completely different from the kiss with Will.
It wasn't as if Percy hadn't been gentle (though he had been a bit more forceful, not to mention demanding), but it had definitely been more…passionate.
Nico shook his head, finishing his turn.
He shouldn't think of this.
"Are you guys getting your dads anything?", he asked, more to clear his head now than to really get an answer.
They all looked at him, blinking.
"That's…actually a good question…", Percy muttered, scratching his chin thoughtfully.
"Not really.", Will replied, shrugging.
"Wasn't planning on it.", Jason said, also shrugging.
Nico wasn't really surprised.
It kind of was to be expected, really.
What had he thought they'd say?
He sighed.
"Why are you asking? Thinking of getting your dad something?", Percy asked, curious.
Nico shrugged. "I don't know. It just crossed my mind, that's all. Who wants more toffee?"
He held out the bag to everyone again, taking a Cinder toffee for himself.
Pushing the thoughts of his father and Christmas gifts out of his head, he wondered instead where his admirer got all these ideas from.
.
After their game of Mythomagic (which had ended in another showdown of Nico and Jason, who was getting help from Will and Percy – though this one prove to be more hindrance than help – but Nico ultimately won because of a dumb move from Jason's side, thanks to Will) they went ice skating again.
Percy was happily hopping around in front of them, looking like a big little kid on its way to the zoo or something.
It was quite cute, actually.
Nico took pictures of him and the others, as well as the rest of the Camp again. It simply looked too stunning and beautiful, covered in white, glistening snow.
He also took a picture of the Stoll brothers breaking into the shop again.
Yay for snapshots.
As they got onto the ice, he spotted Bill with a few kids from other cabins, chatting animatedly a few feet away.
He seemed pretty happy.
Nico also noticed one of the girls gazing up at the Ares kid dreamily.
Well, if that wasn't cute.
Nico grinned to himself and went with Jason, leaving Percy and Will to measure each other's skills once more.
"What are you smiling about?", Jason asked next to him.
Nico shrugged. "Just thinking. So, any plans for Monday yet?"
Jason chuckled. "Well, I've been thinking of a few things, but I haven't settled on anything in particular yet. Though I can tell you it won't be as…action-packed as with Percy."
Nico shrugged and started going backwards again. He really liked that. It felt funny.
"I don't mind. It's not like this is a contest or anything in the first place. As long as we're spending our time together I really don't care what we do."
Jason chuckled. "Yeah, I half expected you to say something like that. But as I said I did think of a few things. I hope you'll enjoy it."
Nico smiled at him, inwardly hoping that, whatever they'd be doing, it wouldn't end with them kissing.
Not that he wouldn't like kissing Jason.
He simply didn't want to feel this bad again for kissing a straight friend and make Jason uncomfortable, or make things awkward between them.
He had kind of done that twice already, after all.
And loosing Jason as a friend would be worse than horrible.
Percy and Will came whooshing past, almost knocking them to the ground, chasing each other across the frozen lake.
"Take that back, you little shit!", Percy cursed, hurrying after Will, who only laughed loudly and waved towards Jason and Nico in passing.
Jason and Nico just stood there, arms around each other to steady themselves, staring after them.
They looked around at each other, stunned.
Then they laughed.
Those guys.
.
A bit later, they decided to look at the clearing Will had taken Nico to.
As expected, Percy loved it.
"This is amazing! How come I've never found this place?", he asked, looking around at how beautifully the forest seemed to merge with the frozen sea, the glittering snow all around them, a stunning contrast of vivid dark green, brown and white.
"Because I'm awesome?", Will suggested, grinning broadly and winking at Nico, who only rolled his eyes and looked away, trying not to think of their incident here.
So he lifted his camera and happily clicked away.
He hadn't deleted the pictures with Percy and him yet.
He had taken them off the camera right away first chance he had, dragging all the pictures into his folder on his laptop.
But as he had hovered over them with every intention of deleting them, he had found himself unable to do it.
He felt really bad about it, too.
Sighing, he took some more pictures, finding Percy rushing into some, striking poses.
Nico suppressed a smile and turned away, aiming the lens at something else.
Percy chuckled and went to get into the picture again.
They made a game out of it.
Jason joined in, trying to fly into the pictures like superman.
Really?
Nico laughed, turning around and around while Will gave instructions right next to him.
They were so childish.
Seriously.
They stopped when Jason and Percy changed tactics and simply ran for Nico, toppling to the ground with him and taking a few snapshots of the three of them, with Jason and Percy grinning stupidly into the camera or making faces, while Nico just stared like 'What?!' on all of them.
Except the last one. On the last one, they had both rubbed their faces against his and he had giggled like a girl, red in the face and freaking.
The two loved that picture.
He would have rather deleted it right away, but they made him swear to print it out for them.
"You look so happy on that one, Neeks.", Will chimed in, making Nico's ears go red.
Will had been too busy rolling on the floor laughing to really get into any of the pictures, but he didn't really seem to mind.
Instead he looked through the pictures they had taken today.
"Why are there so many of those two and close to none of me? Don't you love me anymore?", he asked after a while, looking sulkily at Nico.
Percy and Jason laughed.
Nico turned red in the face at the last question.
"T-They just ran in front of the camera for the past 100 pictures, what do you expect?", he muttered, flustered.
The other two chuckled and put their arms around Nico from the sides.
"Plus, we're simply so much hotter than you.", Percy gloated.
"I'm the son of the sun god! I'm the hottest one there is!", Will exclaimed incredulously and looked at Nico for confirmation.
Nico rolled his eyes and freed himself off Jason and Percy's embrace.
"Really, guys? This topic again?"
"Yes.", Percy and Will instantly replied, then looked around at Jason.
He just shrugged. "I'm ok with you two being hot. That leaves me to be the coolest."
Nico couldn't suppress a chuckle.
They both glared at him.
"So, who's hotter, then? Sunnyboy or me?", Percy asked Nico, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
Nico made a face.
Seriously?
"Nico, tell him I'm the hottest. You know it's true.", Will demanded, looking at him as if he couldn't believe Nico wasn't already doing that.
Nico rolled his eyes. "Fine. In my opinion, the hottest is…"
He looked them both up and down slowly.
They were looking at him so expectantly.
A smirk tugged at his lips.
"…the hottest is Leo.", Nico finished, putting his arms behind his head and grinning broadly at their dumb faces.
"What?!", they both exclaimed, incredulously and looked at him devastated, then glared daggers at each other.
Jason laughed loudly and winked at him. "Good one. That'll bug them forever."
"I know, right? So then, how about we go watch Hercules?"
Jason beamed at him.
"Hercules? Really? Why can't we watch Finding Nemo?", Percy asked, the quarrel about being hot instantly forgotten.
"Ew, who wants to watch that? I'm in for Dr. Who. Come on, Neeks, you know you want it.", Will tried to persuade him, but Nico shook his head.
"Nah, I want to watch Hercules. I can't get this one song out of my head ever since Jason said he wanted to watch it today in the morning."
"I won't say I'm in love?", Jason, Percy and Will guessed at the same time.
Nico blinked, ears turning red.
Then he snorted. "Actually, no. It's that other one, called 'Go the distance'. But thanks guys, thanks a lot."
All three of them scratched the back of their heads awkwardly, red in the face.
"Sorry, Neeks…we just thought…", Percy muttered.
"It…kinda fit the situation, you know…", Will continued.
Nico made a face.
But then he just had to chuckle at their guilty expressions and they left for the movie, grabbing something to eat on the way.
After all, one couldn't live off sweets and snacks alone.
One needed junk food to go with it.
Blue pizza, fries and burgers for the win.