Chapter 11:

Nico Touches the Sun

Nico already had Percy Jackson on his shit-list for partnering him with Will. Now Percy occupied the top three spots, with Jason Grace taking up four through to eight.

Percy's smirk as he watched Will almost throw himself away made Nico want to get up and punch him. Jason had an equally devious look on his face.

"No, no," the Zeus camper said, holding up his hands, "don't stop on our account."

"It was just getting good!" Percy added. Nico sat up, his eyes narrowing to glare daggers and death at his two best friends/rivals. Will's face was flushed a deep red as he slowly got to his feet. Nico had to wonder if there was any blood left in his body that wasn't pooling at his cheeks.

"It's almost like watching a real romance," Jason hinted not-so-subtly. Nico gathered his feet under him, careful to hide the absolute flaming promise of murder in his eyes behind his black fringe.

"P-Percy!" Will squeaked. "Jason! W-What're you doing here!?"

Percy scuffed the ground, grinning.

"Walking," he replied.

"Yeah," Jason agreed. "Just trying to find our little bro Nic-"

Nico looked up at him and Jason choked on his words. The colour drained out of Percy's face like water from a bath, and his partner in crime went the same shade as milk.

The fury in the Hades' camper's eyes was enough to send the biggest and baddest guy from Ares running for his Mama. Percy and Jason may be the most known at Chiron's for their talent, but secretly Nico surpassed them both. He might not be openly able, but even the newest kids looking to pick a fight bypassed him, and the oldest did their best to keep him from blowing his top.

The two taller boys had pretty much done a whole gymnastics routine over Nico's tolerance line. They were probably going to die any second now.

"Percy," Nico said, his voice cold and quiet, "how fond are you of your ribs?"

Percy gulped, putting a hand on his chest.

"P-Pretty attached," he said. Jason elbowed him hard.

"Do you want to die with that kind of pun as your last words?" he hissed. Percy went even paler.

"I'm sorry, Nico!" he suddenly yelled, falling to his knees and praying. "Please don't kill me!"

"What am I!?" Jason yelped. "Chop liver?!

"We can arrange that, if you like," Nico told him haughtily. Jason joined Percy in begging for his life. Will seemed to be watching all this in fascination, and maybe a little bit of awe. Nico curled the smile threatening his features into a scowl. He waved his hand at the two idiots on the ground.

"I'll see you in the arena," he said. "Sword practice at two, okay?"

They jerked up, tentative smiles on their faces.

"Yeah?" Jason asked, starting to bounce on his knees. Percy high-fived himself in a dramatic around-the-world loop before rolling along the ground to his feet again. He clenched his fists and started jumping excitedly.

"You promise, Nico?" he egged. "You'll really come?"

Nico nodded like he was in pain, and sighed. Jason and Percy whooped, then turned to look at each other. Competition blossomed as they locked gazes, and then they both took off at top speed, yelling the whole time. It was quiet around Nico and Will before the Apollo camper cleared his throat.

"Uh, what was that?"

Nico blew his cheeks out and rubbed his face.

"Jason-literal-puppy-Grace and Percy-actual-six-year-old-Jackson," he said. "They're probably annoyed that I didn't come to practice with them this morning because I was doing the play with you."

Nico didn't miss the pink flush that appeared on Will's face.

"They usually bug me to train with them," he offered. "I'm…" he swallow, feeling his own cheeks heat up, "…sorry you got caught in that."

Will dusted himself off as he got up, another generous smile coming on to blind Nico with.

"Anyways," the blond boy said, snatching their fallen plays from the ground, "that was a good practice."

"I was dead," Nico said blandly. Will laughed at him, handing his book back.

"You made a very good dead person then," he complimented. "Seriously di Angelo, your skin is really cold like, all the time."

Nico breathed in deeply as the words rang in his ears. He'd heard people flirting before, but he'd never tried it himself. He was pretty sure there was supposed to be some kind of innuendo in there, but he didn't want to say anything like that. Cold skin, Nico, cold skin. What's a good hint that goes with cold skin?

He took another gulp of air.

"Well," he replied quietly, taking his hands out of his pockets, "maybe you could help me get warm?"

His face flamed red as soon as he said it, but he left his hand hanging in space, waiting for Will to take it or push it away. A seed of panic started weeding in Nico's chest – what if he'd been wrong? Maybe Will wasn't talking about him before. Oh my gods he was such an idiot!

Fingers that were almost as hot as boiling water slipped into Nico's, sending his nerves tingling like they did whenever he had a warm shower in the winter. The cuffs of Will's yellow sweater brushed his palm.

"It's not healthy for your skin to be this cold, Nico!" Will scolded, tapping the back of Nico's hand with his index finger. Shots of heat sent burning signals down the Hades' camper's arm.

"I prescribe regular handholding." He seemed to have gotten over his embarrassment from earlier. Nico turned his head so his smile wasn't obvious. "Every day. Whenever I'm around. Consistently."

Nico pulled his hoodie's collar up and closed his eyes. He'd taken the initiative this time – just this once he'd put his heart on the line. Maybe he was fired up from Percy and Jason's idiocy. Maybe there was some kind of dragonous courage when it came to romance hiding in his ribcage that had decided to take a spin for once.

Handholding was one thing though. Juliet had done her part. The next step was up to Romeo.

I had no direction, and then this happened, and there was direction. I'm sorry it didn't come out right. BUT THERE IS DEVELOPMENT

In case anyone was wondering: I completely made up the word dragonous, because I thought it sounded cool. The meaning, I have decided, is pretty much just 'dragon-like'. I could have said that instead sure, but that's boring.

I'm sorry this is so late, too. No direction. Writer's block. School. Don't blame it on the sunshine.

Jasmine Out!