A/N: Hey there, Cupcakes! Thanks once more to all of you who read this Story :) I love you guys so much *kiss*
Already the 18th! Time sure flies.
Thanks for the nice reviews and guesses and ideas.
I've already finished the Story at this point.
I won't give you a hint (don't want to spoil it ;)) but I was surprised myself at the outcome, though when I reread the story as a whole, it made sense.
Yes, I didn't know myself what pairing it would turn out to be in the end when I started this and I let this progress on it's own.
(I'm surprised myself it all made sense afterwards ._.)
Thank you sooo much, all of you, for reading, for liking, for everything :)

Love you guys,
mel-chan
-

Day 18: Thursday

"Nico...you have to let go of my hand. I've already stayed way too long."

"Never...", Nico muttered, clutching the hand for dear life.

He chuckled.

"Please?"

"No."

"If I give you a kiss?"

Nico contemplated.

Then he sighed, slowly and reluctantly letting go of the hand folded into his.

He felt the body next to him getting up, out of the bed and instantly missed the source of heat.

He turned around and felt a hand on his face, gently brushing some stray strands of hair aside.

Then he felt lips pressing onto his softly.

He kissed back, wrapping his arms around the person's neck, pulling him down further.

He chuckled into the kiss, making Nico's insides all fluttery.

"Gods, Nico, you're doing it again.", he muttered as they parted.

Nico could feel him huffing slightly, feel his warm breath on his skin.

The person placed a soft peck on his lips once more before pulling back out of Nico's arms.

Nico only sighed.

He heard scribbling.

"Can't it be the 25th already...?", Nico muttered sleepily and turned away.

He chuckled again.

"Only 7 more days, my angel."

"You're so cruel...", Nico muttered.

He noticed he was slowly beginning to wake more.

If he really wanted to, he knew he could make himself open his eyes.

But he didn't.

"I'm sorry. I love you.", the voice whispered and kissed him softly at the side of his neck before retreating, leaving the cabin swiftly.

Nico sighed and turned around slowly, opening one eye slightly to peek at the table.

Sure enough, there laid the gift and the note.

He sneaked a peek at the time.

4am.

His admirer had stayed roughly two hours with him, just snuggling up to him in bed, warming and caressing him.

He smiled fondly.

Then he turned around in bed, grabbing hold of Mrs. O'Leary Jr. and fell back asleep.

.

"Seriously, what are you two doing each morning?", Will asked, shaking his head incredulously as he read the note.

Nico chuckled.

"Oh, we're so making out. I'm quite a handful, after all."

Percy completely lost it, snorting out the water he'd been drinking and holding his stomach, laughing.

Will stared at Nico, gaping.

Jason chuckled and high-fived Nico.

Then Will chuckled as well, throwing himself onto Nico and tickling him. "You Little...You almost had me there.", he said, tickling him mercilessly.

Nico laughed and tried to run away, but to no avail.

He felt Will's fingers gliding beneath his new dark blue Christmas jumper with skulls and skeleton reindeers – the gift of the day from his admirer – and writhed beneath Will.

"Almost? I think not.", he teased and then grabbed hold of Will, turning them around, topping.

"Gods, Nico, you seem to be in a rather daring mood today, huh?", Jason asked, chuckling as he watched them play-fight.

Nico laughed and started pinning Will to the bed, holding his hands up with one hand and tickling him with the other while firmly sitting on his thighs.

Will squirmed and writhed beneath him, but Nico didn't let him go.

"S-Stop, Neeks, I can't...please...", Will pleaded, trying to free himself and Jason and Percy laughed.

"Never thought I'd hear Will begging like that.", Percy chuckled and Nico slowly let go of Will, jumping off him and crossing his arms, looking rather smug.

"Yeah, bet you weren't expecting me to hold my ground for once, eh?"

He felt pretty damn good today.

Maybe he was getting another head cold.

Will got up, huffing. "You...are...impossible.", he panted, grinning at Nico.

Nico chuckled and tugged on the side of his Christmas sweater.

It was actually pretty comfortable.

Of course, he couldn't run around the Camp with it because of the Camp Half-Blood sweaters, but he was considering wearing it on Christmas.

Not to mention on the long ride to Camp Jupiter.

It was just so nice and warm and fuzzy...like his admirer today in the morning in bed with him.

He blushed lightly and pulled his collar up, hiding part of his face in it.

He loved it when his admirer came in the morning.

He loved it when they kissed.

He loved it when he laid down next to him to cuddle.

He loved it when his admirer let his hands travel over Nico's body, caressing it ever so softly, kissing his neck or shoulders.

He loved falling asleep leaning back against him.

He loved waking up slightly to still feel him behind him.

He loved his admirer.

The thought was surprising, if not unnerving.

He had no idea who his admirer was after all.

But he found himself in love with the person that came to him each morning.

The person that gave him notes stating they loved him.

He looked around at the note lying on his bedside table again.

A smile tugged at his lips as he recalled the message.

[Dear Nico,

Gods, how much I love you.

Tearing myself away from you in the mornings is becoming harder and harder by the day.

Good thing there's only 7 days left.

You are so addictive, Nico.

Everything about you is.

I simply can't get enough of you.

I hope you like today's gift.

I saw the design and had to think of you instantly.

Hopefully, you'll love it as much as I do.

I'm certain you'll look ravishing in it.

Oh snap, I think I just spoiled the surprise.

Have a nice 18th day of December, my angel.

I love you,

Your secret Admirer

P.s.: You feel soooo good!]

He smirked to himself.

He of course knew that the admirer was talking about cuddling and kissing alone.

But his friends had immediately assumed otherwise.

Though one of them was only acting.

He looked around at them, sitting on his bed next to each other, chuckling and making fun of one another.

Jason had had that look of alarm on his face, looking Nico up and down as if looking for any indicator as to what he and his admirer could have been up to.

Percy had raised both eyebrows in surprise, looking over at Nico, just to then smirk broadly and wriggle with them as if to ask how it went. That idiot.

And Will had looked up incredulously, asking what the hell they've been doing.

It was really difficult to see who of them it could be.

The more time passed, the more Nico knew he'd find out soon, yet he was practically desperate to find out right now.

He wanted so badly to know yet not know.

"Truth or Dare, Truth or Dare!", Will called, looking pleadingly at everybody.

Oh, hell no.

He was NOT going to play that game again. Ever.

Jason and Percy looked at each other meaningfully, then at Nico.

Nico shook his head. "No way. I am not nibbling on anybody's neck today."

Jason's face flushed and Percy snorted with laughter, while Will started his usual wailing again.

"Oh, come on, you liked it! Fine, no neck nibbling then."

"And no humping.", Jason, Nico and Percy said.

"Fine, no humping."

"And no other awkward stuff.", Nico added.

Will made a face. "But Truth or Dare is all about the awkward stuff."

"Then we'll have to wait until we get to Camp Jupiter and can play with Reyna. She'll have lots of awkward things for you to do.", Nico said drily, an eyebrow raised at Will.

Silence.

"No, no. It's ok. No awkward stuff, got it.", he then insisted, raising his arms in defeat.

Jason and Percy chuckled, winking at Nico.

"Fine, then I suppose we can go a few rounds.", Nico sighed exasperated.

He sure was feeling daring today.

Probably because, in his mind, he was still lying in that bed with his admirer, snuggling and cuddling and feeling warm and fuzzy and loved.

.

They went for more than just a few rounds.

It all started innocent enough with people asking each other what their favorite color was, what season they liked most, things like that.

The dares had been simple enough as well.

Run around the place, mime a word whispered into their ears (very funny when it had been Nico's turn and nobody had understood him miming Santa Clause, even though he had even started crawling into the fireplace – something he wouldn't recommend to anybody), bring drinks for each other and, and, and.

Nico was still wondering what Will's great questions were.

He hadn't asked Nico anything weird yet and he highly doubted Will had been so keen on playing the game just to ask him what his favorite animal, food and drink was and whether he wanted to live in New Rome someday.

Just then, Will turned to him.

"Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

"Who did you share your fist kiss with?"

Nico blinked.

Percy's nose twitched slightly annoyed and he looked away.

Nico knew what he was thinking.

He was expecting Will to be Nico's first kiss.

Jason looked rather surprised though.

Great, he probably thought Nico was still unkissed.

This was going to be one awesome conversation.

He shifted.

"Erm...remind me again, what's the penalty for not answering?", he asked duplicitous.

Will made a face. "Oh, come on, it's not that bad a question. Just say it."

Nico wondered vaguely whether Will was either very mean, wanting to hear Nico tell the others about their kiss, or whether he actually guessed he hadn't been Nico's first.

Nico sighed. "Well...fine, I suppose I have to admit to it someday. Percy, I'm really sorry.", he said, scratching his head awkwardly.

Silence.

"Sorry for what? Just say it, man.", Percy said, though he was intently staring at his feet, his face forcefully indifferent.

"No, I mean, it's you, actually. You were my first.", Nico admitted.

He wasn't even blushing.

Yes, he must definitely be getting a head cold.

Percy's head shot up, confused. "What...but...huh?", he stammered, frowning, looking from Nico to Will and back, searching for a sign that this was a joke.

Jason was intently looking at his hands, while Will had both eyebrows raised in surprise, looking at Nico rather baffled.

Nico sighed. "Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. It was quite a while ago, actually. I kissed you while you were sleeping. It was shortly after I had finally accepted my...feelings myself and it just sort of...kind of...happened.", he explained, shifting uneasily.

Percy blinked surprised. "Oh...oh. Ok...erm...it's fine, I guess...though...can that really count as kiss? With me sleeping?"

"Well, you did kinda kiss back."

"Wait, I did?"

"Yeah..."

There was silence for a moment.

"Sweet. Was I good? I don't think I ever kissed somebody while sleeping. Then again, I wouldn't know, would I?"

Will chuckled. "Dude, really? You can ask him that when it's your turn!", he said and Nico rolled his eyes, deciding inwardly to better take the Dares whenever Percy turned to him.

He turned to Jason.

"Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

Nico thought for a moment.

"Do you want to have kids someday?", he then asked, curious.

He could picture Jason to be a pretty cool dad.

The other two looked around.

Jason looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Well, I guess I'd maybe want to have one. Though it'll depend on the partner and the time and if we were capable of taking care of a child."

So grown up.

Nico smiled. "I think you'd be a pretty cool dad."

"Yeah, I agree.", Percy said, looking Jason up and down.

Will nodded.

Jason only scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Thanks, guys, I suppose. So, Percy, Truth or Dare?"

"Hm...truth."

"Would you ever put on an Aquaman-outfit?"

They chuckled.

"Sure, why not. The real question is: Would anybody want to see me in it?"

"Fair point.", Will said and they laughed.

Then Percy turned to Nico instantly.

"Truth or Da-..."

"Dare."

"Aww, you're so cruel!"

"That's what my admirer tells me every morning. I think I'm already immune to it.", he said, shrugging unimpressed.

Jason and Will chuckled.

Percy only shook his head. "You've got one daring attitude today. I love it. So...hm...a dare..."

He looked about the room.

Then he smirked, looking at Will.

"Well, how about you make him blush?"

Nico made a face.

Will blinked. "What? I thought no awkward stuff?", he complained.

"How is making you blush awkward?", Percy asked, frowning.

"It's awkward for me. Plus, he couldn't do it anyways."

Nico scowled. "Oh, couldn't I?", he asked drily.

Then he smirked. "Challenge accepted."

He REALLY was getting a head cold.

He had never felt so daring.

Well, maybe a few times but that was usually along the lines of 'I'll be rushing into this mob of monsters and simply hope I can fight my way back out of it'-daring.

Will blinked, looking around at him surprised as Nico went towards him on all fours, coming dangerously close.

He had no clue what to do to make Will blush.

Though he could clearly see Will gulp and look at him with big eyes, which was already telling him he was doing a good job.

He inched closer, their faces inches apart.

He could practically feel Will moving towards him slightly, letting their lips almost brush against each other, feeling his breath on his skin...but then Nico chuckled quietly and put his lips right next to Will's ear.

"Well, well, wouldn't you love that?", he asked just loud enough for Will to hear, knowing full well his voice had dropped to a seductive purr.

As he pulled back ever so slowly, Will had the most adorable blush on his cheeks, turning his face slightly towards Nico as if hoping he'd at least let their lips brush against each other now, his gaze dazedly fixed on him.

Percy chuckled. "Well, I'll be damned. Nico, you're my hero."

Jason looked mildly impressed as well.

Nico pulled back completely, grinning at Will.

"So much for 'he couldn't do that'.", he said smugly and returned to his place.

Will made a face, looking rather embarrassed.

"Well, ok, I take it all back. I had no clue you could turn from adorable and sexy to freaking super seductive in under a minute.", he exclaimed and looked at Nico rather reproachfully as if he had cheated him or something.

Nico shrugged. "I don't know about 'adorable', 'sexy' or 'seductive', but I do know I just made you blush. Truth or Dare?"

Percy and Jason exchanged bemused glances, winking at Nico.

"Truth."

"Did you like it?", Nico immediately asked, teasing.

Percy and Jason high-fived him.

"I'm starting to like this attitude of yours.", Jason muttered, shaking his head, grinning to himself.

Will crossed his arms in front of his chest. "M-Maybe."

Nico raised an eyebrow.

"Ok, I guess I did.", he gave in, making Percy and Jason smirk.

This was payback for making Nico all flustered the last time they played this game.

Nico thoroughly enjoyed it.

Will turned to Jason. "Truth or Dare?"

"Dare.", Jason replied, which was kind of obvious since the last two rounds he had taken Truth.

"Uh...take your shirt off.", Will said, apparently not able to think of anything better.

"Seriously?", Jason asked, eyebrows raised, but complied nevertheless.

Then he turned to Nico. "Truth or Dare?"

Since Nico didn't want to run danger of having to choose Truth with Percy, Dare wasn't really an option.

"Truth."

Jason thought for a moment.

"Ask him whether my kiss was good!", Percy urged.

"Your kiss was probably really crappy, that's why he doesn't want to tell you. My kiss was tons better.", Will replied teasingly.

Nico made a face.

Well, that was out there now.

Jason furrowed an eyebrow, slightly annoyed.

"Your kiss probably sucked hardcore, else he wouldn't have scrammed like that.", Percy teased.

"Oh, don't you even go there!"

"Guys, would you both shut up and let Jason ask whatever he wishes to ask?", Nico interrupted them, slightly pink in the face.

Jason still looked peeved about something.

Then he looked straight at Nico.

What was that in his gaze?

Hurt? Betrayal? Annoyance?

Nico couldn't blame him.

He pretty much just found out Nico had kissed both Percy and Will.

Leaving Jason to be the only one he didn't kiss yet.

Except he was his admirer, of course.

Which he highly doubted.

But even if he was, it would probably only peeve him even more to hear his crush was kissing everybody else but him during day.

"Can you do me a favor?"

Nico blinked. "Erm...sure? What is it?"

"Can you switch to dare?"

Nico hesitated.

He had a bad feeling about this.

Then he sighed. "Uh, sure. Dare, then."

Will and Percy frowned and looked around at Jason, who slowly pushed himself up.

"Kiss me."

For a moment, there was utter silence.

It was so quiet, they could have heard a needle falling to the ground.

Nico stared at him.

What?!

Jason crossed his arms in front of his chest, staring back at him intently.

Percy and Will both gaped at him.

Nico almost hoped they'd say something like 'you can't dare him that'.

But they didn't.

"Erm...", he muttered awkwardly and got up as well.

He gulped, unsure what exactly to do.

It wasn't as if he had ever really initiated a kiss other than when Percy had been asleep that one time (unless you counted the admirer at night...).

He stepped forward, fidgeting.

"L-Like...a...a real kiss?", he asked tentatively, half hoping Jason would say something like 'Nah, on the cheek is fine'.

He didn't. Instead, he nodded curtly and still gazed at him intently.

Percy and Will still gaped.

Nico moved closer, now standing directly in front of Jason and suddenly felt even shyer than usual.

Lowering his gaze slightly, he was unsure of where to put his arms.

Should he just take Jason's face in his hands and press his lips onto his?

Should he wrap his arms around his neck?

Or should he just lean forward and give him a quick peck?

He felt Jason's hand on his chin, pushing his face upwards again, locking their gazes once more.

Nico felt the hairs at the back of his neck standing up as he was painfully aware of the other two watching.

Seriously, this was horrible.

What was this?

Was this considered ok, because it was a game?

This was not ok.

He had sworn to himself to at least not kiss Jason as to prove to himself that he wasn't some sort of slut.

He felt Jason's face inching closer.

He drew a sharp breath.

Then he leaned forward, connecting their lips.

It felt funny.

There was a tingly sensation as their lips touched, lingering in the pit of his stomach, making him all fuzzy and weird.

He felt Jason's hands at the sides of his face, pulling him closer and put his hands on Jason's sides tentatively.

Nico felt Jason huffing, though he knew he wasn't much better.

As Jason's tongue licked over Nico's bottom lip, demanding entrance, Nico stiffened for a moment.

Jason seemed to hesitate for a splint second, but then did it again.

Nico gave in.

Jason's tongue kiss wasn't anything like Percy's.

It was gentler, yet had this electrifying effect on Nico, as if there were little lightning bolts hitting some odd part of his body, making him shiver and tremble.

He was a lot less demanding as Percy, therefore a lot more sensual.

Then he felt Jason slowly retreating, ending their tongue game.

Nico pulled back as well, noticing how he was panting.

He slowly opened his eyes, looking up at Jason for any form of reaction.

Jason looked down at him with a dazed expression on his face, huffing himself.

Then he grinned.

Nico was too dizzy to grin back, instead just flopping down onto his seat, blinking, trying to get a grip on himself.

"Well, that was one hell of a kiss.", Jason admitted, looking rather pleased and sat back down as well.

"Dude, unfair, I didn't get to french kiss him.", Will complained, looking rather hurt now.

"You didn't?", Jason asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No! He ran off before I could take it that far."

Percy chuckled, though he was slightly pink in the face and had his gaze fixed on Nico and Nico alone.

"Well, told you your kiss must have sucked."

"Oh, shut it. At least I can remember kissing him."

"I can, too. And I tongued him just fine."

Nico blushed a dark shade of red.

"Are we seriously discussing how you guys kissed me?!", he asked incredulously and hid his face in his hands, ashamed and embarrassed of himself.

They looked around at him.

"You ok, Neeks?", Will asked, coming over.

Jason and Percy did, too.

"No. I feel horrible."

"How come?", Percy asked.

"Maybe Jason's kissing skills are horrible.", Will suggested.

"Care to check?", Jason dared him.

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Challenge accepted."

"Eek!", Will squeaked and next moment, Nico looked up to find Will running off, closely followed by Jason.

Percy stared after them.

Then he looked back at Nico. "Are you ok?"

Nico shrugged.

He really didn't feel good at all.

Percy sighed. "Don't let this stuff get to you, Nico. We all like you. None of us are going to talk bad about you. None of us are going to think badly about you. We all had our share of partners, we all kissed plenty of people. You're still single. Your admirer knows that. And now, be serious. Both Will and I kind of pushed ourselves onto you. You only kissed Jason because he dared you to do it. You really think you're bad? You seriously don't want to know what other people do WHILE they are dating somebody."

Nico's shoulders dropped and he leaned slightly against Percy.

"I just don't want to disappoint him."

He meant his admirer, of course.

Percy chuckled, softly stroking his back.

"Don't worry, Neeks. You won't. And hey, now you at least know you've already kissed him."

"Percy, I kiss him, like, every morning."

"Oh...well, that explains a lot. Do you do anything else as well?"

Nico pushed away from him, red in the face, but chuckling half against his will.

"No! Just...kissing...cuddling...things like that."

Percy grinned broadly. "Aw, that's sweet."

Nico hesitated, then nodded quietly.

He looked over at Will, who was hiding beneath the bed two beds away from Nico's and held on to the frame for dear life while Jason tried to pull him out by his leg.

"Yeah...though I still can't believe he's supposed to be one of you three. He's so...I don't know...caring. Kind. Special. He treats me completely differently from the way you guys treat me."

Percy chuckled.

"He loves you, Nico. And when he's with you in the mornings, he can show you how much he loves you. Right here, right now, he has to be just your friend. I bet he can barely wait until it's the 25th so he can finally come out to you and date you and do all those things he's been wanting to do with you."

Nico smiled slightly. "You think so?"

"I know so. So better get the lube ready."

"Percy!", Nico exclaimed, blushing hard and stepping away from him, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Percy laughed.

"Really? I was just about to think you're actually a nice guy!", Nico complained, sulking.

Percy winked at him.

.

The rest of the day, they actually spent in Percy's cabin, watching Dr. Who since Will claimed nobody ever went with anything he suggested – which was a straight out lie since they had just played Truth or Dare.

But they still did it, not being able to think of anything better and Nico neither wanting to take off his sweater nor risk damaging it in the arena and nobody but Percy felt like ice skating.

So they spent their time slouching around in Percy's room, throwing chips at each other or playing Rock Paper Scissor to determine who would have to go and get dinner – which turned out to be Will, who then brought back all kinds of vegetables as punishment, much to the distaste of the others, though they still ate.

Even though the day had been quite awkward for Nico, it still turned out pretty well.

He was one of the first who wanted to leave for bed, though not because he was particularly tired or didn't enjoy being around the others, but because he wanted badly to have it be the next day already so he could be with his admirer again.

In bed.

Under the blanket.

Pressed against each other.

Preferably kissing.

He shivered, gazing off into the distance as the others bade their farewell at Percy's door.

Jason noticed and chuckled.

"I really wonder what you're thinking about, Nico.", he muttered and Will and Percy looked around.

Nico blushed slightly and looked to his feet.

"Nothing! Just...erm...wondering what we're going to do tomorrow."

"You mean us or you and your admirer?", Will asked teasingly.

Nico made a face. "The world will never know.", he then countered, crossing his arms in front of his chest and a seductive, knowing smile on his face as if he was thinking of all the hot things he was going to do in secret.

Percy laughed.

"Gods, Nico, you're a jewel.", he said as he saw Will gape for a second and Jason shoot Nico a stunned sideways glance.

Nico chuckled and turned to go.

He really wanted to meet his admirer again.

"Good night, guys.", he called over his shoulder, hearing them chuckle and call after him.

He only waved and left for his cabin.

Maybe he was becoming more daring not because he was getting a head cold, but because he was head over heels in love with his admirer.

Thus, what the boys did didn't really affect him as much anymore as before.

He only wished he knew which one of them it was.

Which one would he want it to be?

His mind travelled to one person in particular, but he pushed it out of his mind.

Only 7 more days.

Almost 6.

Anticipation welled up inside of him.

He was almost there...