AN: Slightly shorter chapter, apologies, but as I say, we're getting into the harder bits to write. Thanks for getting this far. Enjoy.
When Zagreus returned to Alaska with his new acquisitions, Prometheus' response was a raised eyebrow and a congratulations.
"Now, all you need is a child of the elder gods," he said, "Are you going to try di Angelo again?"
"Not yet," said Zagreus, "the other one, what's his name?"
"Jason Grace," said Prometheus, with a sneer. "He is powerful, too, destroyed Kronos' throne, killed the titan..."
"He will not be my enemy," Zagreus stated.
Prometheus fidgeted, ready to tell bad news but nervous about doing it, "I must warn you, Zagreus, he is loyal to Hera, though he calls her Juno," the titan said, "if she knows of your return, she will go to him before anyone else. She expects his loyalty as though he were her own son."
"Children grow up," said Zagreus, "yesterday I was a child, now I am grown."
"Yes, Zagreus," said Prometheus with a bow of his head that indicated his acquiescence.
"Prometheus, I need a home," said Zagreus. "This place is not fit for the future ruler of all. We will build a citadel."
Prometheus blinked, "With what?" he asked, looking more worried than anything.
"I will gather supplies, and this will get us started," he said, pointing towards one of his acquisitions.
Prometheus looked at it, too, and again, nodded.
"As you say, Hera will send Jason after me. We must have defences ready before he arrives," Zagreus smiled. "I still hope to change Nico's mind."
"You need to get him away from Jackson, if you wish for him to join you," said Prometheus.
Zagreus nodded. "Come, we have much to do."
He led Prometheus to the place he wished to build his home, and they planned it.
...xxx...xxx...
Nico woke up to something digging into his thigh.
It probably should have been uncomfortable, but for the life of him Nico couldn't even think about moving away from it. He shifted, and then put a hand behind him and pushed it over so it slipped between his legs. That was much more comfortable.
A hand rested on his hip, and Nico put his hand on top. It felt very nice, warm and heavy. The bed shifted, and warm breath caressed the back of his neck.
Then he realised what it was. Suddenly he was very very awake. Something told him Percy wasn't though.
He sprang forward and fell painfully out of the bed. Percy groaned in his sleep at the loss of Nico's body, and rolled over, and Nico tried desperately not to linger on the thought of Percy's cock being so near his arse.
And no way could he let himself believe it was Nico's arse that had made Percy's cock so hard. Percy was a young man. He probably forgot he wasn't sleeping with Annabeth as he slept. That was all. Probably.
And Nico was imagining it all. Sleeping in the same bed when there was not another on place to sleep did not mean anything except a need to be comfy. In fact, it suggested the opposite of what Nico wanted it to mean, because it meant that far from thinking of Nico as a potential partner, Percy thought of him as a harmless family member. And they were cousins. And as Nico's only other relation currently hated him, that should be a good thing.
It wasn't. Nico wanted Percy to pin him to the bed and...
No, that thought was not going to help.
"Percy," he said, "We need to go before my dad wants to start arguing again."
Percy groaned, and rolled over.
"Percy," Nico repeated, "Come on, Percy! We have to go."
He pulled the sheets off of Percy, revealing his perfect slim but muscled form. He was currently dressed in just his underwear and a t shirt, revealing mouthwatering legs.
Nico forced himself to only look at Percy's scrunched up face.
"Percy!" he repeated.
"Alright!" growled Percy, "I'm up."
He didn't look 'up'. He looked grumpy and his eyes were closed.
"Gods, Percy," Nico groaned, "Come on!"
He pushed Percy further over, then retrieved the discarded clothes from the floor and threw them at him.
"Ugh!" Percy groaned, "What is your problem?"
"We're in the underworld, Percy!" Nico snapped, "And we can't stay here or my dad will throw you into an airless room again!"
"Throw you in an airless room!" Percy grumbled, even while he sat up and groggily put on his pants, "You're the one that stole the baby."
Nico scowled. He had done what he thought was right. Even Percy had admitted that he would have done the same thing in his situation. It was totally unfair that he kept going on about it.
"Come on!" he repeated, and pulled on his own pants and shoes. This room did at least have a door, but Nico wasn't foolish, he knew there would be a line of skeletal warriors outside ready to ambush them should they try to leave. He would have to risk exhaustion to get them away from here.
Once they were both fully clothed, Percy still sulky and sleepy looking, Nico shoved the door open. True enough, two skeletal soldiers had been stationed outside his door. Nico released their souls to asphodel, and they went willingly.
"This really wore you out, last time," Percy commented, and Nico scowled again. This wasn't power over water, which took as much energy as moving something of the same weight would do. This was power over souls, the wills of people who happened to be dead, to have them do his bidding. That was impossible. And so it took an amount of energy that Percy could never have dreamed of. And to reprogram souls his father had already programmed? Well, he'd like to see Percy trying to fight Poseidon's power over the sea.
"I was a kid, then," he said, stroppily, and marched down the corridor as if he hadn't just used the equivalent energy of running five miles.
They met a few more skeletons on their way out, and had to make a careful journey past Cerberus and the queues of ghosts awaiting entrance to the afterlifes. By this point, Nico felt like he'd run a few marathons, and Percy was holding him up.
"Can you ... call... Mrs O'Leary?" Nico panted. "Don't think... can... climb..."
Percy pulled out his whistle and blew. Cerberus looked thoroughly over excited, and Nico used a few more million calories trying to control the giant three headed dog. But thankfully it only took a few minutes for Mrs O'Leary to come bounding down.
"We'll never get up those stairs without her," Nico explained. He'd collapse for one. He was completely exhausted, but no way was he letting Percy know that.
He half expected Percy to suggest he was fine to do it, but he seemed to have woken up grumpy enough to not want to climb miles and miles of steps. It took ages to climb the steps, in an awkward silence as Nico kept trying to forget the feeling of Percy spooned up against him even as Percy was spooned up against him.
He noticed Percy had pushed back his crotch. That would be because it was strange to let your crotch touch the arse of another man, not for any other reason that Nico's perverted mind was coming up with.
They reached the surface in Central Park and Percy went back to his. Nico followed. He had nowhere else to go. Percy was talking about his great fear of wedding stuff. Nico wanted to say 'well, don't get married,' then. But that would have given him away. More than he'd already given himself away.
When they reached Percy's apartment, they found the door broken. Percy's face went pale, and he ran in.
He called Annabeth's name. Nico did too. However jealous he was of Annabeth, he liked her too. It was impossible not to like someone who had been captured while trying to save you from a manticore. The apartment looked almost normal except for the door with a broken lock. Whatever had happened, Annabeth hadn't put up much of a fight. Nico dared hope that meant she wasn't here when it happened.
Percy didn't.
"This was him, wasn't it?" he shouted.
"You don't know that," Nico replied, "Maybe she just…"
Percy didn't want logic. "Just went to the shops and forgot she had a key?"
Nico wondered for a moment about how Percy could inspire such adoration one minute and annoyance the next.
"It wasn't Zagreus!" he shouted, "why would he go after Annabeth? There's no reason to!"
"For you, obviously!" shouted Percy.
Nico was so surprised he actually gaped for a for a few moments. "What?" he said eventually.
"You want me!" said Percy, in a tone that made Nico want to tear his own heart out. "You told him, and he's got this weird brotherly love thing going on with you so he takes out Annabeth so you'll get me!"
Unable to speak, Nico just stared,
Percy wasn't done raging; "If he's hurt her, I swear to all the gods, I will kill you both!"
"Are you being serious?!" Nico shouted.
"Deadly!" Percy shouted, "I should have killed him when I first saw him! No, I should have left you to the manticore!"
Nico's insides had shrivelled up to something dead. Percy's words burned inside him, they hurt so much. He wanted Percy to hurt that much too. So he punched him.
Percy staggered back, clutching his jaw. Nico felt some of his anger fade to see Percy in pain, but he stood his ground. "You dick!" he shouted.
"It's true isn't it?" Percy replied, though if he'd been that certain he would have just hit back.
"I haven't even tried to contact you in years!" Nico shouted, "I didn't look you up! I didn't drag you out into the ocean in the middle of the night!"
"I was trying to be nice!" Percy snapped, "you kissed me!"
"You kissed me back!" Nico shouted.
"I'm in love with Annabeth!" Percy shouted, "I'm marrying her! You need to get over it!"
"I haven't contacted you for six years!" Nico returned.
"And there you still are, looking at me like that!"
"Like what?"
"Like you're imagining us sleeping together! It's creepy, Nico!"
Nico gaped some more. He really had put a huge amount of effort into not looking like he wanted to shag Percy. It was disturbing to know he'd failed. "Fine!" he said, "I'll go look somewhere else."
"You can't!" Percy shouted, "You need to help me find Annabeth!"
"I thought I was the villain that kidnapped her?" Nico hissed, "Why would I help out if I'm the monster?" He turned, ready to storm away, but Percy grabbed his arm.
"Don't you dare walk out on me!" he shouted.
With a growl of frustration, Nico tried to punch him again with his free hand, but this time Percy caught the fist, and used both the fist and the trapped arm to shove Nico back against a wall.
"Get off me!" Nico shouted, furiously, but having used the equivalent of two marathon's worth of energy to get them out of the underworld, was less able to push him off than a kitten.
"I hate you!" Percy shouted back, "I hate you, you bastard!"
Then he kissed Nico with a ferocity that would leave bruises.
...xxx...xxx…
"Queen Hera?"
The titan called the name again and again. He'd chosen what he thought would be a good spot to find her: New York City Hall. Olympus was a no go for him, as were either of the camps, but here, where marriages were made was a good place to find her, or at the very least, a part of her.
"Queen Hera?" he called again.
A woman in a hat that didn't suit her appeared to his left. "Prometheus, you are treading a fine line…"
"You majesty!" Prometheus protested, "I am here to help you."
"Help me?" Hera sneered, "how can you help me?"
"Zagreus," Prometheus whispered.
Hera's eyes flamed, "What do you know of Zagreus?" she demanded.
"I know where he is!" Prometheus whispered, "I have infiltrated his side, he trusts me. He means to attack the gods, but I am loyal to Olympus as I always have been!"
Hera looked at him, "Or you have seen my army and have realised he cannot win. You've only ever been loyal to one person, Prometheus, and that's you."
"Not true, my queen!" Prometheus protested, "Let me help you! I will tell you Zagreus' location and you will know that I am faithful as ever to the gods of Olympus."
"You tell me the bastard's location and I will consider it a step in the right direction," hissed Hera.
Prometheus gripped her hand, pleading as though his life depended on it. "My queen, I need forgiveness, I need clemency. I need to be readmitted to Olympus! I am dying in exile!"
Hera smiled, "If you tell me the location of the bastard pretender to my husbands throne, I will speak to my husband for you. Tell him of your faith, of your goodness. But only if you tell me, right now, exactly where I can find Zagreus."
Prometheus bowed his head. "My queen, please…"
"Speak, Prometheus!" Hera interrupted. "I haven't the time for this!"
Prometheus only took a few more moments to tell her exactly where she could find Zagreus. She smiled and thanked him, graciously. She now had all she needed; a way of finding her enemy, and a scapegoat for his death.
AN: Reviews are welcomed. And reviewers adored. x