PJatO || Nicercy || PJatO || Phoe's Tumblr Drabbles – It's a Seal! || PJatO || Nicercy || PJatO

Title: Phoe's Tumblr Drabbles – It's a Seal!

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus

Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Rick Riordan for he created the awesomeness that is Nico di Angelo. And everything else related to Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus. Aside from the Gods, they belong to the old Greeks. This fanfiction and its OCs on the other hand are entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.

Warnings: m/m, fluff, hurt/comfort, protectiveness, magic, selkie

Main Pairing: Nico/Percy

Percy Jackson Characters: Perseus Jackson, Nico di Angelo, Jason Grace, Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Will Solace, Piper McLean

Summary: Prompt: "I bet it's a boy." - "I bet it's a turtle." for Nicercy.

Nico loves the aquarium, especially the turles and one marine biologist in particular.

Phoe's Tumblr Drabbles

It's a Seal!

Nico was one of the biggest donors of the marine sanctuary slash aquarium. He was a filthy-rich lawyer and he had always loved turtles, so he decided to donate some of his money to keep the turtles safe around here. That, of course, meant he was a guest of honor at the regular big galas.

"You know. It's befitting that you look like a penguin", noted his date for the night.

"Shut up, Will", grumbled Nico with a glare, elbowing his best friend.

The two had been inseparable since college – Will studying to become a doctor, Nico studying to become a lawyer. Will had been Nico's first gay friend and had helped the back then closeted boy a lot. They were like brothers by now, had gone through thick and thin together.

"So, how are Botticelli and Titian doing?", asked Will.

Two turtles Nico had kind of adopted, sponsored really. Without his donation, the sanctuary would not have been able to take them in and take care of them. As thanks, Nico had gotten to name them.

"Doing fine", grinned Nico and ducked his head. "I visited them just earlier this week."

"You and your ridiculous obsession with turtles", chuckled Will fondly.

"I learned English with the Ninja Turtles", shrugged Nico with a frown. "They were named after famous Italians, Will. There was nothing not to love about them. Turtles are awesome."

"One day I will tell Percy that you made little masks for Titian and Botticelli", warned Will.

Nico's eyes widened and his ears turned red. Percy was the cutest marine biologist in existence and he worked at the sanctuary. A doctor too, tending to the animals when they were hurt. And Will was absolutely not allowed to ruin Nico's suave reputation by revealing that Botticelli the green turtle and Titian the yellow turtle were kind of Nico's TMNT OCs.

"Why do you hate me, Will?", asked Nico miserably, shaking his head.

Will laughed as the two of them made their way toward their seats when Nico spotted the object of his affection. Percy Jackson. He was wearing a dark-blue button-down shirt and dress-pants but, as always, he had his black leather-jacket on him. He always wore that thing, even on the hottest summer days. Nico frowned though, because the jacket was laying on the ground. It must have slipped off the backrest of Percy's chair. It was too hot and uncomfortable to wear the jacket in here. Motioning for Will to go ahead, Nico picked up the black leather-jacket with a smile. He blinked curiously as he felt the material for a moment. He had never felt this kind of leather before.

"Excuse me, Percy", started Nico, resting a hand on Percy's shoulder.

Something strange happened when Percy turned around to look at him. First, with a bright smile, but then the smile immediately got replaced by a look of horror and shock, staring first at the jacket and then at Nico, like Nico had just... betrayed his trust and killed his puppy or something. Frowning confused by that reaction, Nico placed the jacket back on the backrest.

"It must have fallen off", offered Nico with a smile. "Wouldn't want it to get dirty, I know how much you love this jacket. And I also wanted to... say hello. Hello."

Instead of the usual banter or anything, Percy just stared at Nico in utter confusion. When Nico didn't get a reaction for a while, he just cleared his throat and bid his goodbye.

/break\

"Percy. Percy, you alright?", asked Piper concerned when her roommate came home.

Today had been some gala that she had managed to worm her way out of – she hated playing fancy dress-up. Percy however, he had gone in hopes of seeing his crush in a well-cut suit. For the past months, Percy had had a huge crush on one of the sanctuary's biggest donors. Nico di Angelo. He regularly came to visit the sanctuary too and Percy would just stare heart-eyed at the way Nico talked to the turtles. It was endearing and ridiculous and cute. But also a little pathetic, because Piper had warned him not to fall in love with a human. Yet here he was...

"Someone took my skin", whispered Percy, biting his lips.

"No!", exclaimed Piper wide-eyed, jumping off the couch in panic, just to freeze. "Wait. But... You're wearing it, Percy. What... happened? What's going on?"

"Nico", started Percy, taking a shaky breath. "He had it. He took it. A... And then he smiled at me and gave it back. Because it fell on the floor. H... He picked it up and instead of keeping it, he gave it back to me, with a smile... and... and..."

"Huh", grunted Piper stunned, collapsing back onto the couch. "Ice-cream and alcohol?"

"I get the ice, you get the booze", nodded Percy absentmindedly, swallowing hard.

Piper took a deep, relieved breath. "Honestly, if you lost your skin while under my care, King Poseidon would most likely skin me alive. You can't do that to me."

"Dad would never skin you alive!", called Percy back with a huff. "You're one of his best generals."

Piper shook her head and took a deep breath. She might be, but if the prince of the ocean lost his selkie-skin to some human and didn't return to Atlantis, that'd be her end too...

/break\

"You gave it back."

Nico startled. He thought he was alone, watching the turtles. Botticelli and Titian were being their usual adorable selves again and Nico loved watching them. It helped him relax after a long case. At this time of day under the week, he usually had the turtles to himself, only a handful of families being close by and Nico didn't mind sharing the turles' attention with a couple eager kids. Turning some, he faced not a child but Percy. Percy, wearing his perfectly cut leather-jacket over his Los Angeles Marine Sanctuary shirt. The young doctor looked absolutely in awe as he stared at Nico.

"I'm sorry?", asked Nico confused.

"Walk with me?", offered Percy with the tiniest smile.

There was nothing Nico would ever deny Percy – and spending alone time on a potentially romantic sunset walk on the beach, just the two of them? Nico would have to be a fool to say no to that. Nodding, he followed Percy out of the sanctuary and toward the beach. For a short while did they just walk calmly side by side. Percy's eyes were on the ocean with the same longing they always held when he looked at the vast blueness. Nico's eyes were on Percy, as they always were when Percy was close by. He just looked so beautiful and serene.

"You gave it back", whispered Percy as the sun was slowly setting.

"What do you mean?", asked Nico. "You said that before too, but... What?"

"My... skin", replied Percy, shrugging off his jacket and folding it over his arm.

"Your jacket?", asked Nico for clarification, more confused than ever.

"My skin", corrected Percy softly, slowly stepping toward the ocean. "You picked it up and... and you gave it back. Humans are... selfish. That's what I was told growing up. Humans are greedy, dangerous and selfish. And when a human takes your skin, they will keep it."

"Okay. Mildly freaking out by the way you talk about humans like you're not one and also the whole skin-thing, equally... disturbing, Percy", offered Nico, voice pitching a little.

"Have you ever heard of... selkies?", asked Percy slowly, stepping more into the water.

"Uhm. The seal-women?", grunted Nico confused. "They... they're a fairy tale. Seals who turn into humans and when a man steals her... her skin... the woman would have to marry him?"

"Something like that", shrugged Percy and tilted his head, a small smile on his lips. "When someone takes our skin, we can't return home to the sea. We can't return to our true form. And men... tended to use that for the one they want. But selkies don't necessarily have to be female. And we don't just turn into seals. We're also called... merpeople, in many cultures."

"...We...?", echoed Nico, swallowing hard.

"Don't freak out", requested Percy with a smile as he let himself fall backward into the water.

Nico couldn't help but step up, anxious against better judgment. Percy stayed under water for long. Too long. Nico was growing scared. But then he resurfaced and jumped Nico, pinning him to the wet ground. The water was shallow. Propped up on his elbows, Nico could still keep his face above water. The real shocker however was Percy. Percy whose lower half was no longer human legs. Instead a tail. A... seal-tail, flapping in the water. Percy was smiling brightly at him.

"I never really introduced myself", hummed Percy. "I'm Prince Perseus, son of King Poseidon, leader to the selkies and ruler of the ocean. I'm... I came here to learn about humans. I didn't want to believe that all humans are bad. It couldn't be true. And... And then I met you and you're... sweet. But when you picked up my skin and just gave it back to me... You're something else, Nico di Angelo. And I... I like you. I liked you for a while now. But when you gave me back my skin..."

Slowly, Percy leaned down, making eye-contact with Nico. Nervously, Nico tilted his head and closed his eyes, wrapping his arms around Percy's waist as the selkie kissed him.

"I just kissed a merman", whispered Nico in awe, cupping Percy's face.

"If you want to, you could... date a merman", offered Percy with a cheeky grin.

/3 Weeks Later\

"You've been spending even more time at the sanctuary than usual", pointed Reyna out.

Nico rolled his eyes and blushed. He had not yet told anyone about dating Percy, because they didn't want the attention. But now Will and Nico's two oldest friends – Jason and Reyna, friends since high school – were teaming up on him. Jason threw popcorn at him.

"I bet it's a boy", smirked Will knowingly.

"I bet it's a turtle", countered Jason with a shrug. "Our little weirdo is spending all his time with... uhm... Picasso and Pollock all the time anyway. What's new."

"Botticelli and Titian", corrected Reyna. "And will you two shut up so I can enjoy the movie?"

If only they knew that it was actually... a seal. A seal-merman. Well, technically, Will was on point too, because it was a boy. The boy of his dreams. Who was a merman. And Nico's boyfriend. He grinned, ridiculously pleased, as he got more comfortable between Reyna and Jason.

~*~ The End ~*~

Author's note: This was, hands down, the weirdest of the prompts on the list and I was really lost as to what to do with it. But then I remembered this request I got on tumblr (come visit me at takaraphoenix ;3) a while ago, about selkie!Percy and Nico taking his skin by accident but returning it - and I figured that'd actually go really well together.