PJatO || Nicercy || PJatO || A Very Half-Blood Carnival || PJatO || Nicercy || PJatO

Title: A Very Half-Blood Carnival – In a Matter of Jacks

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus; post both series

PJatO 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, of course. They are all copyright by the old Greeks. This fanfiction on the other hand is entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.

Warnings: shounen-ai, established relationship, fluff, cross-dressing, shoujo-ai, hetero

Main Pairing: Nico/Percy

Side Pairings: Frank/Hazel/Leo, Jason/Reyna, Piper/Annabeth

Percy Jackson Characters: Perseus Jackson, Nico di Angelo, Leo Valdez, Hazel Levesque, Frank Zhang, Octavian Simmons, Reyna Anderson, Jason Grace, Annabeth Chase, Piper McLean

Own Character: Sedanur Aykan (daughter of Apollo)

Summary: Future fic – Nico and Percy have been dating for roughly two months now and Nico starts suspecting that his Sea Prince is being unfaithful. It's not helping him any that Annabeth has put up a great event concerning the carnival. Will his fears turn out to be true, or is he just being ridiculous? And what costumes are they going to wear?

A Very Half-Blood Carnival

In a Matter of Jacks

"You know, I would have thought you'd turn this into a sex-dungeon."

"Shut up, brother", grunted Hazel irritated.

The siblings of underworld glared playfully at each other before laughing slightly. Frank grunted annoyed and rolled his eyes from where he was painting their cellar's walls fire-red.

"Our firebug is too cute to be held in a dungeon", snorted the son of Mars. "But I'm sure he'll appreciate this playroom all for himself. At least until he has his own shop open."

Nico turned slightly to look at the Roman, a soft smile creeping onto his lips. Hazel and Frank truly loved Leo, the three of them had been together for a short while now, but living so far apart would have been a problem. So within the first few weeks after New Year, they started moving Leo's stuff over to the Romans' house in New Rome. The Latino wanted to open his own garage, but something like that doesn't happen over a day. And Hazel and Frank hated to see their firebug all miserable and having to calculate money. So, to cheer him up, they decided to turn their cellar into a workplace for the tinkerer so he could take his mind off the financial problems for a while.

"Not so much red, this is supposed to look like flames", grunted Frank with a critical glare.

"You two are horrible", snorted Nico and rolled his eyes.

"Shut up and work. We don't have much time. This is supposed to be a-"

"Oh my gods! Oh my gods! Oh my gods!", yelped a high-pitched voice, interrupting Hazel.

Nico, Frank and Hazel turned wide-eyed toward the stairs, just in time to see a very excited Latino skipping down three stairs at a time, jumping right into Frank's arms. The son of Mars caught the smaller boy, securely wrapping his arms around Leo's waist and holding onto his butt (only out of reasons for better support, of course). Dark eyes were sparkling with glee.

"This is amazing, it's beautiful, it's—Is it really for me?", gasped the Latino, looking around.

A pair of golden eyes was rolled at him as Hazel walked over to her boys and placed a quite possessive kiss on Leo's lips, her fingers tangled in his curls. Nico rolled his eyes at them.

"Guys, would you mind waiting with that until you're alone?", grunted the son of Hades.

"Tell me about it", muttered Jason as he and his girlfriend entered the cellar. "Ever since they moved in together, I have to constantly see them slapping Leo's ass or hear to them making inappropriate comments... I mean, that's gross! Leo is like a little brother to me!"

"Well, and Hazel is my little sister", snorted Nico with a glare.

"Oh, shut your mouths, both of you", chided Reyna amused and hugged Nico briefly. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be all busy in New Athens?"

Right, New Athens. The mention of Nico's new home made the Ghost Prince frown. Not because of the city itself – he loved the busy Greek counterpart to New Rome and Annabeth was doing a great job as mayor. But he had only moved there because his boyfriend was living there.

"How is Perce? Did he come with you?", inquired Jason, looking around.

The frown on Nico's face deepened some more and he turned away to glare at the fire-painting he and his sister had been doing before they got interrupted. Hazel finally let go of Leo so he could breath, the Latino brightly flustered and the daughter of Pluto very smug.

"Of course it's for you, firebug. You've been so down lately because the plans for the shop take so long to work, so we thought we'd give you a little surprise", smiled the golden-eyed girl.

"Though it was supposed to be a surprise", muttered Frank and glared at the other two Romans.

"Yeah right", snorted Jason and rolled his eyes, holding his hands up in defense. "You try to keep him focused on something so he's distracted! You know how hard that is?"

"Tying him down usually works", mused Hazel and pursed her lips.

"I'll leave that up to you", replied the blonde with one raised eyebrow.

"You better do", growled the son of Mars possessively, squeezing Leo's ass for emphasis.

"Fra—ank", whined the Latino embarrassed and buried his face in the crook of the older boy's neck.

"So, how can we help?", offered the son of Jupiter and rolled his sleeves up.

"We want those walls red and here's supposed to be a flame, shooting out of the mouth of a dragon... We should have invited Rachel", muttered the daughter of Pluto with a frown.

"She's too preoccupied with the planning together with Annabeth", dismissed Nico.

"Planning?", inquired Reyna curiously and took a brush herself.

"Yes. Someone planted the notion of celebrating carnival and now they're organizing a parade."

"You don't sound very happy", noted the daughter of Bellona.

"Does he ever sound happy? We're talking about Nico. The only way you get a happy Nico is by putting a Percy onto his lap", snickered Jason, elbowing his cousin.

If possible, the frown deepened even more. Reyna locked eyes with Hazel, asking her without words what was wrong with the Ghost Prince, but the dark-skinned girl only shrugged in reply.

"What's up, Nico?", asked Leo, slowly climbing down from Frank to help too.

"I think Percy is being unfaithful", stating Nico in a neutral voice.

There was an eerie silence in which the son of Hades simply continued to paint while his friends stared at him in different states of shock or disbelief. Nico and Percy had been dating for about two months now and the couple was practically inseparable. It had taken them a total of two weeks to move in together. Hearing the son of Hades say something like that, in such a serious voice...

"Have you lost your marbles, di Angelo?", exclaimed Leo wide-eyed and laughed. "Percy loves you like mad! Like really, really mad. He would never do that, man!"

"What makes you think that, brother?", asked Hazel in a soft, worried voice.

"He has been talking to Rachel a lot on the phone ever since she moved out and whenever I overhear their conversation, Percy is talking about a guy named Jack and he gets those glassed-over eyes and all and when I walk in, he suddenly hangs up or changes the topic and blushes."

"It's just that guy from that show... what's it called? Professor Why?", shrugged Jason.

"No, it's not", glared Nico, not bothering to correct the blonde. "I know his Captain-Jack-Harkness-eyes and they're different than those. I've never seen that expression on his face before. He really likes this Jack guy. But he's never told me about him. I... really think... Ouch!"

He yelped and rubbed the back of his head, turning to glare at Reyna. The daughter of Bellona returned the glare just as fiercely, her hands stemmed into her hips.

"Say something as stupid ever again and I will go all war daughter on your ass, di Angelo", warned the black-haired female. "Percy is one of my best friends and if there is one thing I know about him, it's that he would never hurt anyone he cares about. And he cared about no one as much as he does about you. Well, sans Sally. He would never do such a thing."

"You shouldn't spend that much time with Clarisse", muttered Nico, still rubbing his head.

"She's right, though", grunted Frank with a glare. "Percy is a sweet guy, he wouldn't do that kind of thing. You should talk to him about this Jack. It certainly is only a misunderstanding."

"You said a carnival parade? But today is Shrove Monday", noted Jason. "Don't tell me you're being a pouty brat instead of spending the Shrove Monday Procession with your adorable boyfriend."

"I'm going to ignore that comment, Grace", growled Nico with hard eyes.

His cousin just smirked, as if he had just proven a point. Jason started to paint the brighter, yellow edges onto the flames while his girlfriend swirled a light orange between the red and yellow.

"Go home, di Angelo. We got this covered. The surprise is ruined anyway. So go and get your lover to smile just as brightly as ours", ordered Frank and waved the brush threateningly.

"Oh! But before you leave for New Athens, go to the temple and collect Octavian!"

"What? Hazel, why?", groaned Nico with a pout. "I really don't need to see that augur!"

"Because I called him when you arrived and told him you would take him with you to New Athens", smiled his sister deviously. "Just go and do as I see, then you'll know."

The Ghost Prince's glare darkened, his eyes nearly black as he sighed in defeat. "Okay, fine. Who am I to object your will? Have fun painting... Though I still think you should have turned this into a dungeon for your sex-slave!"

"Oh! That idea sounds good!", exclaimed Leo, just to blush. "Uh... I mean..."

"We know exactly what you mean", snorted Jason with a grin. "At least we now know what we'll have to paint once Percy and Nico move into a real house."

Nico flipped him the finger and walked up the stairs to leave the house. Shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his bomber jacket, he stared stoically down at the ground. He hated the augur. Even though by now, he seemed to be the only one hating the stuck-up Brit. Then again, Octavian had proven to be useful later on during the war. The only reason Nico couldn't stand the blonde was probably because of the way the augur kept looking at Percy.

"Di Angelo, finally. Your sister called me ages ago."

Ugh, that voice alone made Nico want to vomit. That thick British accent. Though Nico mostly hated that because he knew that Percy loved it. That was what he got for dating a Whovian, the Sea Prince was completely head over heels with Britain.

"What did you want from m-", started Nico with a dark glare.

Though he lost his voice as he looked up at the augur. His eyes nearly bulged out. The blonde hair was bleached nearly completely white, the normally very formal Roman was wearing a blue hoodie with an odd white muster on the edges and a ragged-looking pair of brown pants. Next to Octavian stood a very eager looking four or five years old girl with long blonde hair, wearing pajamas and fairy wings, grinning broadly up at Nico.

"Rachel invited us over to the carnival", sighed Octavian, feigning exhaustion.

"Carnival!", exclaimed the child excitedly, waving her arms in the air.

The son of Hades chuckles slightly as he saw the gray plush bunny clutched in her hand. "Hello, I'm Nico. And who are you, young lady?"

"I'm Danny! I'm uncle Octavian's apprehensive", grinned the blonde child broadly.

"Apprentice", corrected the augur. "Go and get your jacket, Sedanur."

The girl nodded and bolted off back into the temple, leaving the two men alone. Nico looked the Brit up and down with one raised eyebrow before chuckling lightly.

"What happened with you? And who is the child? Should I alarm the police that you're kidnapping little girls, creep?", snickered the son of Hades.

"I did not kidnap anyone, graeco", growled Octavian irritated and rolled his eyes. "That's Sedanur Aykan, daughter of Apollo. She has the gift of augury so I took the orphaned girl in."

"Still in doubt", muttered Nico with a frown. "And what about your... clothes and hair?"

"The girl had been miserable since her mother had died", sighed the augur, an unusual softness in his eyes. "So when Rachel suggested for us to visit the carnival, I was forced to accept the offer. And since I was also forced to attend the movies with Sedanur, she begged me to dress up as Frost. When she comes back, you will remark what an adorable Sophie she is, understood?"

Nico didn't understand a word, but when the brightly smiling child came back out, he felt obliged to say anything to please the little angel. Leaning down, he patted her head.

"You're such a pretty Sophie", smiled the son of Hades.

"Thank you, Mister Nico!", grinned the kid delighted before turning to the augur. "Can we go?"

"Of course", nodded Octavian and lifted the girl into his arms, glaring at Nico. "Tell anyone about this and I will remind you why we never got along."

"Aw, Tavy, I'm wounded", smirked the half-Italian and wrapped his arms around Octavian's waist, the child between them. "Hold on tight, Danny."

Nico smiled softly as the child made a gleeful sound while they crossed the shadows. Not sure where to go to, the son of Hades decided to just bring the two blondes home. Wherever the augur wanted to go, he could as well start that journey from Nico's and Percy's apartment.

"Wow", gasped Danny with wide, curious blue eyes. "Pretty!"

"Nico? Is that you?", called Percy from the bedroom.

"Yes. And I brought guests", replied Nico emotionless.

The son of Poseidon entered the living room, a concerned look in his sea-green eyes. Of course Percy had caught on that the Ghost Prince was avoiding him. Though as the green-eyed boy entered the living room, a blush started to adore his cheeks. Nico frowned confused.

"Perseus", grunted Octavian with a short nod.

"Hello! I'm Danny!", exclaimed the daughter of Apollo and waved her arms.

The Sea Prince smiled and got into his knees in front of her. "My, and here I thought you're Sophie Bennett. And is that the Easter Bunny you have in your arms?"

"Yes!", nodded Danny, overjoyed that he recognized her costume. "And Uncle Tavy is Jack Frost!"

Dark eyes scanned Percy's face, observing how the blush deepened, watching how that gleam returned to those sea-green orbs. A gleam he had noticed quite often these days.

"And you're here for the carnival, yes?", smiled Percy, taking the bunny that was offered to him. "Oh, that is a cute bunny! I'm sure he will catch many sweets for you."

"Auntie Rachel invited us", nodded Danny and thrust her arms out demandingly.

The Sea Prince chuckled, cautiously lifting the young girl into his arms. Nico's eyes softened, for the first time this day completely. The tender expression on Percy's face and the softness of his voice while talking to Danny... The picture in total, Percy Jackson holding a child... Somehow that made Nico's heart flutter in a very odd way.

"Tooth will bring me a quarter tonight!", grinned the daughter of Apollo, showing off her one missing front-tooth. "See? See? See?"

"Ah, but don't forget, no staying awake and trying to see her", teased Percy with a grin of his own.

"I know", whined Danny and pouted a bit. "But I want to!"

"How about you go and look on the parade? Maybe you will see one of the guardians there?", suggested Percy amused. "Who knows? Maybe Tooth came to see it too?"

"You really think?", gasped Danny with sparkling eyes before turning to Octavian. "We need to go! Please, please, please! Tooth Fairy!"

The Brit gave her an amused look and chuckled lightly. Nico on the other hand was still busy staring at the nearly perfect picture of Percy with the small, excited girl in his arms.

"Yeah, okay, come on, kiddo", grunted Octavian, obviously a little embarrassed.

He walked over to the son of Poseidon and took the girl from him, not very pleased that Percy and Nico saw him so soft, but he really couldn't help himself around Sedanur. Percy grinned knowingly and poked Danny's nose.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Tooth Fairy! Candies!", agreed Danny, tugging on the augur's hoodie. "Come!"

"I assume I will be seeing you two later on the parade, either that or you two are up to very strange things in your bedroom", noted Octavian with one raised eyebrow. "Good bye."

"Bye, bye!", called Danny, the door closing behind the two blondes.

Nico blinked a couple of times, focusing on his boyfriend fully now. The little girl had distracted him somehow. Tartarus-dark eyes widened in astonishment. He hadn't noticed the costume his lover was wearing. Percy looked like Sally.

"What...?", grunted the Ghost Prince surprised.

"Well... You... seemed a little distant the past few days so I wanted to make you feel good and thought we could dress up for the parade", shrugged the son of Poseidon and blushed slightly. "Why have you been distant, Nico? Did something... happen...? Did I... do something wrong...?"

"It turns out I'm a moron", chuckled the son of Hades and stepped up to his boyfriend, wrapping his arms around Percy's slender waist. "This character Octavian is portraying, I assume he is the Jack you and Rachel have been talking about lately, yes?"

"Uh... Well...", drawled Percy, his blush deepening. "You know, while you've had your head full with that business plan of yours, Rach and I went to the cinema and watched Rise of the Guardians and there's this character – Jack Frost – and he's... very impressive... Why?"

"Like I said", murmured Nico and kissed Percy softly. "I've been a moron. I thought you were... seeing someone named Jack. The way you talked about this guy and how you tried to dodge me and suspiciously hung up the phone when I walked in..."

"You are a moron, di Angelo", blinked Percy surprised, leaning up to rest his forehead against Nico's. "Really? Have I been behaving that oddly...? I just didn't want you to know that I'm having another fanboy obsession. You always make fun of me for squealing over Captain Jack Harkness, I didn't need that with Jack Frost too... I was embarrassed, okay?"

"You're adorable. And I'm an idiot", chuckled the son of Hades, shaking his head. "What in the world is it with you and guys named Jack? I mean, that poster of Johnny Depp hanging right above your bed had concerned me before, but now that I think of it... Captain Jack Sparrow..."

"Oh please, you have your own Jack-obsession too! As can be seen by my costume!"

The Sea Prince stuck his tongue out and pushed himself off his lover to show off his dress some. Nico smirked and licked his lips, slapping Percy's ass once in appreciation.

"Yeah. One. And you have three", snorted Nico and rolled his eyes. "Maybe I should change my name? Jack di Angelo, how does that sound?"

"I don't want you to have the same name as our son", grunted Percy in disagreement.

"How so?", blinked the son of Hades confused.

"Jackson di Angelo. We are going to name one of our sons Jack", replied the Sea Prince.

"What? Our children will have my last time?", grinned Nico teasingly.

"Would be good if our children would share our last name, yes", nodded Percy amused.

"So you'll take my name if we get married?", hummed the Ghost Prince intrigued.

"Once, not if", corrected the son of Poseidon and blushed faintly. "You don't think I'll let you go again, you idiot? You're my idiot, after all. And yes, I will take your name. The name Jackson is... it's a bad luck charm, I guess... I mean, my... grandparents, they died in a plane-crash when my mom was a little girl and my grandfather's brother died of cancer when mom had been in college. And mom? Aside from losing all of her family? Yeah, she got stuck with Smelly Gabe. Her life only started getting better after she married Paul. After she stopped being a Jackson. Let's just hope being a di Angelo will be as effective as being a Blofis."

"Good gods, what are you two getting all sappy about?", snorted a voice from behind them.

"Well, at least they're only getting sappy and not dirty", commented someone else.

Percy and Nico turned around to face the couple. Both boys burst into loud laughter upon seeing Piper and Annabeth. The daughter of Athena was wearing a short, green dress and fairy wings, her hair put up to look like Tinkerbell. Her girlfriend however was looking like a female Peter Pan.

"Why aren't you dressed, Nico?", chided Annabeth with a disapproving frown.

"And why is your make-up not done yet, Percy?", grunted Piper and shook her head.

"How did you two get in here?", asked the son of Hades and blinked.

"Oh please, you don't think I don't have a key, do you?", snorted the blonde and rolled her eyes.

"Hush now, get going! Annie has to lead the parade, we can't be late!", urged the daughter of Aphrodite with a glare, ushering the boys into the bedroom. "We need to finish you guys!"

"Yeah, our first carnival has to be perfect", agreed Annabeth, taking the costume of Jack Skeleton that was laying on the bed. "Either you undress yourself, or I'll help you, di Angelo."

"If anyone will be undressing my Nico, then it's me", glared Percy with a dirty look.

"I am quite capable of doing that myself, thank you", muttered the Ghost Prince embarrassed.

"Oh! Annabeth, you look great! You have to do me a favor", yelped the son of Poseidon suddenly while Piper started to finish his make-up. "Octavian is here with a little girl. Cute thing. You have to go to her and tell her that you're a cousin of the Tooth Fairy and tell her to floss, yes?"

"Do I... have to understand that?", blinked the daughter of Athena a bit confused.

"Don't question him. It's just a matter of Jack, once again", snorted Nico amused.

/break\

About half an hour later had a very pleased looking Jack Skeleton watching the Shrove Monday Parade with his very own Sally hanging off his arm. At least until a crying little girl came crashing into them, nearly sending Percy onto his ass if not for Nico's strong arms.

"Danny?", blinked the son of Hades confused.

Though as she looked up and saw his costume, she only cried even harder. Percy hugged her close.

"What's wrong, kiddo?", asked the Sea Prince softly, rubbing circles on her back.

"I can't find uncle Tavy and auntie Rachel and the people are scary", whimpered the blonde.

Nico frowned and looked around. Okay, the kid was right. Those wooden masks would have scared the living hell out of him too if he were her age. Taking one of her hands, he helped her up. Percy held her other hand so the child could walk between them.

"Don't worry, Nico will protect us. He's a prince, you know?", smiled Percy softly. "The prince of everything scary and creepy, like ghosts and zombies and such scary witches."

"Really?", gasped Danny with wide, amazed eyes, all fear forgotten.

"Of course", chuckled Nico and bowed slightly. "I will keep them at bay for you, milady."

"Danny?! Sedanur! For the love of-", called a very outrageous voice, soon followed by the face of an angry Octavian/Jack Frost. "Danny, there you are! You know how much you scared me?!"

"Sorry", mumbled Danny and averted her eyes guiltily, before Octavian lifted her up into his arms.

"Thank you", grunted the augur, the words obviously hard for him. "You two will be great parents."

The couple blushed and watched how the Roman walked off with Danny waving at them.

~*~ The End ~*~

Author's note: I hope you all celebrated the fifth season, unlike me who spend the last two months so coped with finals and preparations for finals that I actually completely forgot about Shrove Monday. Hence this being late. Sorry.

So yeah, it is a future fic and as any other story with an established relationship it can be seen as a stand-alone. But it can also belong into my headcanon-line, whereas it would be the next after A Very Half-Blood Christmas. I've decided to write more about how their relationship bloomed and there will be more, to be more precisely it'll be kind of a holiday-series. After Christmas and Carnival, there'll be Valentine, Easter, Halloween and Thanksgiving, though all being oneshots. Aside from the last one I have planned for the Very Half-Blood storyline, which would be A Very Half-Blood Wedding, that one is going to be a multiple-chapter, drama-packed mixture of fluff and smut. But for more information, there's a timeline for my headcanon fics (which count an impressive number of 16 written so far) on my LJ account as peace-phoenix

Enough rambling, sorry. I'm just excited to finally be back in my fanfictions!