Disclaimer:: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Heroes of Olympus or its characters. They are the property of Rick Riorden, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.

Percy was lying on his bed in the dark, tossing a small ball up into the air. It was Sunday evening, just after dinner. He still hadn't heard from Nico. He was dreading going to school tomorrow, but he knew he had to. Besides, Will had promised they would talk to the younger boy together. A soft knock on his door distracted him and the small ball fell on his face and bounced across the room. Percy's eyes darted to the now open door and froze. Every muscle in his body clenched tight and his breath was stuck in his lungs. Every fiber of his being was telling him to jump up, run over and pull his visitor into his arms. But he could barley force himself to blink.

"Hey Percy." At the sound of his soft voice Percy melted. His breath came in a whoosh and his muscles relaxed.

"Hey Nikki."

"Can we talk?"

Percy nodded. He was absolutely terrified; he could feel his palms go cold and clammy as he swung around to sit on the edge of his bed. Gripping them together to hide the shaking. Yet, he felt better than he had all weekend now that his young love was here with him. Nico joined him on the bed, one leg bent facing the older boy. He could feel these dark eyes on him, but he couldn't bring himself to look. With a sigh Percy felt Nico slip his hand between Percy's and grip tight.

"I'm sorry."

Percy's head shot up to look at his boyfriend, "What?"

"Will told me you've been worried, and I'm sorry I worried you. But I was upset and confused and I just needed some time. I'm not used to people worrying about me when I run, so I'm sorry I made you worry."

"It's okay." Percy's voice was soft and still held a quiver. Nico leaned over and brushed his lips gently across the older boy's temple, hoping to give him some sort of reassurance.

"It's not, but we'll deal with that later. We really do need to talk about something, and we're probably about to get into a fight." He felt Percy tense. "But I promise not to run this time. I won't leave until we solve this or you ask me to. Okay?" Percy nodded again. Nico took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"I was at the mall yesterday, and I ran into Kronos." His voice was soft and steady.

"What..." Percy's hand's gripped tighter as his head whipped over to look at his boyfriend. Nico gently pulled his hands away as he turned and crossed his legs, now facing away from Percy.

"Shh. Let me get this all out. So Him and two of his friends have me blocked off in this hallway talking shit."

"Holy shit. Are you o..."

"I said shut up." Nico only spared the green eyed boy a glance.

Percy's mouth snapped shut. "Anyways, so their talking shit and I'm psyching myself up for a fight and all of a sudden Octavian's there."

"What the..." Nico turned his head to look his boyfriend in the eyes, Nico could see he was exasperated "Sorry." Percy mumbled back. Nico turns back to look at the floor.

"So Octavian comes out of the bathroom and starts getting all scared and shit. And then he like, comes to stand behind me and he says, all quiet like, 'you won't let them hurt me, right? You'll protect me'. And I just nod because that guy was scared. So he's standing behind me shaking and Kronos is there in front of me and he comes at me and I hit him in the jaw and security shows up and they all run off. So my hands aching like a bitch and Octavian gets an ice pack and we're sitting on this bench and he's like, cradling my hand in his while holding the ice pack to my knuckles. And he's just going on about how brave I was and how grateful he is that I was there to protect him. And Percy I have to be honest, it felt really nice."

"So you like Octavian?" Nico could hear the fear in Percy's voice.

"No. I like that he didn't even for one second think I needed his help. I like that he not only believed I could handle it, but trusted me to take care of him too."

"I don't get it."

"I know. Look, you had my back when Kronos cornered me at the tournament. I froze, and you were amazing all weekend. I'll never be able to express how much that meant to me. But Percy, sometimes, you treat me like in this porcelain doll. You make me feel like... I don't know... like you think I'm this weak little girl who needs you to take care of her." Nico heard the anger in his own voice as the volume increased. "You're always asking if I'm okay and you carry my bag and opening doors. And you tuck me under your chin like a doll and Percy, it really pisses me off."

Percy sighed before turning to face the younger boy. His dark eyes were glued to the floor and his hands were gripping his jeans. Knuckles turning white. He could see his right hand was still a little swollen.

"You protected me from Kronos at the convention." Percy's voice was soft.

"And the whole time you were begging me to walk away."

"Look, I don't think you're weak. You are one of the strongest people I know."Percy reached over to take hold of the younger boy's chin. Forcing him to look right into those sea green eyes. "You are strong and brave and I know this. I don't mean to treat you like a doll. I know you're not porcelain. Because you have been through so much, and you're still here. I admire you so much Nico di Angelo."

"Then why are you always trying to take care of me?" Nico pulled his face out of Percy's hands, but didn't look away. He noticed he was gripping his pants and loosened his hold; the swollen hand aching.

"Not because I don't think you can take care of yourself. But because I don't think you should have to anymore. You told me you've always been all alone in this, no one ever had your back. And that's not fair, you're not alone anymore."

"I guess... that's okay." Nico mumbled as he studied Percy's face.

"I carry your bag because you're always putting in down and forgetting it. I'd let you carry mine, but I don't have one. I open doors for you because I was raised a gentleman, and it doesn't make sense for the passenger to open the driver's door for them. But if you really want to, I wouldn't mind." Percy took a deep breath and smiled when he saw the corners of Nico's mouth tilted up slightly. "I put my arms around you and tuck you under my chin," As he talked he carried the motion out. Slowly reaching forward and pulling Nico close, resting his chin on the top of the smaller boys head. "Because you fit here so perfectly. I just want to be close to you, all the time, as close as possible."

Percy felt Nico relax into his chest and slowly wrap his own arms around the older boy. Percy gently kissed the top of his boyfriend's head. "I don't mean to treat you like your porcelain; I try to treat you like your precious. Because to me, you are. Is that okay?"

Nico felt his eyes burn with tears and he nodded slowly. Percy began to pull back but Nico held him tight. He didn't want Percy to see him crying. But the older boy noticed and took Nico by the shoulders and pushed him back, He looked deep into the dark brown orbs that always entranced him so much.

"Here I am giving you shit for treating me like a girl and you say one sweet thing and I start blubbering like one." Nico muttered, trying to wipe to tears off his face.

Percy chuckled and removed Nico's hands. Leaning forward he gently brought his lips to the Italian's face and kissed the tears away.

"Crying doesn't make you a girl. A vagina does. And I'm like, 95% sure you don't have one of those. Everybody cries. Hell, Grover walked in on me crying all over Will in the bathroom on Friday."

Nico couldn't help but laugh, "Yea, I heard about that."

"Can I please, please, PLEASE, kiss you now?" Nico looked up to Percy's pout, baby seal eyes and bottom lip sticking out. The younger boy smirked and leaned in to nip the protruding thing. Percy gasped and pulled Nico onto the bed and underneath him, tickling the smaller boy until he couldn't breathe. Yea, there were okay.