In a world without demigods, monsters and Annabeth Chase, Nico di Angelo got to Percy first.

They met when Nico was ten and Percy was thirteen. The Jacksons had just moved in next door, and Nico and Bianca had been sent by their mother with a welcome gift. Nico hadn't wanted to come; he'd been in the middle of a particularly enthralling game of Mythomagic. But his mother had insisted, and Bianca hadn't wanted to go alone, and who could refuse his sister in that floppy green hat?

Before Percy Jackson had opened the door of apartment 32C at Bianca's knock, Nico had never really thought about love. He knew what it was, sure. He also knew he loved his mom and his sister. But he'd heard of a different type of love, read about it, watched it constantly in movies and listened to it on the radio for the better part of his eleven years on this earth. That kind of love was something ten-year-old boys shouldn't concern themselves with, and Nico never really had.

But when that door with the chipped blue paint and slightly warped gold numbers opened inwards, and the di Angelos were greeted by a faded orange t-shirt, a smile made up of ever-so-gently crooked teeth, and the greenest eyes Nico had ever seen, all that knowledge of love that had built up over the course of his admittedly short lifetime tackled him from behind and shoved itself down his throat and deep inside his heart. Percy Jackson was the singular most beautiful person Nico had ever had the fortune to meet, and by the time they were on a first-name basis, Nico was already long gone to those eyes, that laugh, that smile.

The Jacksons had always been a nomadic sort, Nico learned. It was mostly to do with Percy being unable to stick around a school long enough without doing something that got him expelled. But when they arrived here, of all places, settling themselves inside a dingy little apartment opposite the equally uninviting di Angelo home, they stayed.

A year turned into two, which turned into five. Sally, Percy's mom, met Paul, and they got married in a small ceremony of which the di Angelos rounded out the wedding guest total to five (including the priest). Percy and Bianca were in the same year at school, and on more than one occasion Nico had to deal with the uncomfortable questions of his own classmates, who wondered if his two favourite people in the world were more than just friends. Nico said no, of course. Bianca told him everything, always had, and though he and Percy weren't as close as she and Percy were, he knew the guy well enough to believe him when he said that he loved Bianca as a sister, nothing more.

(He never said he loved Nico like a brother. Nico tried not to look too deep into the fact.)

On the days when Bianca was at another friend's house, and Percy had finished (or not bothered with) his homework, Nico went next door to teach his neighbour Italian. He himself had only known bits and pieces when he'd met Percy, but the older boy's desire to learn it pushed Nico into language lessons himself. Five years on, Nico was fifteen and Percy was eighteen, and the both of them knew enough Italian to last them a lifetime.

It was autumn, almost winter, and yet the lazy tendrils of summer still swirled around in 32C, possibly thanks to the lack of ventilation and air conditioning. Percy was helping Nico with his Biology work, because even though the former was dyslexic and only just scraped by with a passing grade in his English course, he seemed to know everything about everything when it came to science.

"I'm pretty sure Darwin's theory came out 1859, Nico, not 1959," Percy was saying, reading over the notes Nico had made for his class test tomorrow. "But, you know, I could be wrong."

"Shit." Nico grabbed the paper from Percy and amended the dates. "Just a stupid mistake. Everything else is all good, right?" He looked up from his distress at the sound of Percy's laughter. The older teen was stretched out on his bed, his jaw cupped by one curved palm, a teasing smile on his face. Nico tried to quash and ignore what that look made his gut do; like it was twisting itself up in knots in time with the 12/8 tempo of his heartbeat. "Shut up," he managed to say, throwing an eraser at his friend. Percy's grin only widened.

"Certo, Vostra Maestà. Sono ai tuoi ordini."

"Fottiti."

Nico stood from his seat at Percy's desk and stretched, yawning. He sat down next to Percy on the bedspread. "I'm beat."

Percy had an odd look in his eyes. He patted the quilt by his head. "Lie down with me," he said in a casual way, certainly oblivious to how those words made Nico's heart stutter in his chest.

"W-what?"

Eye roll. "Lie down, dumbass." Without further ado he tugged Nico down onto the bed so they were lying side by side, staring up at the ceiling. Glow-in-the-dark stars glittered up there, remnants from Percy's thirteen-year-old self. Nico was hyper-aware of his surrounds: the creaking fan in the corner as it blew dust around the room in slow circles; the closed door that suddenly had a whole new meaning; and Percy, Percy everywhere, his arm and Nico's almost touching, the skin of his neck and jaw and cheek caught by the latter's peripheral vision.

BA-BOOM, Nico's heart said to the silence. BA-BOOM.

"'M tired too," Percy said with a yawn, breaking the tension that Nico wondered if he had only ever imagined in the first place. Maybe Percy did this all the time. Maybe it meant absolutely nothing.

Their fingers brushed together in a soft cascade of skin and nail.

Maybe not.

"Percy?" Nico breathed to the person he saw as his best friend (more) even if it wasn't the same vice versa.

"Sì?"

Nico couldn't move. He felt caged by his own decision. He was going to do it. He was going to tell Percy.

(Because their hands were still touching and Percy hadn't pulled away and it had to mean something.)

"Percy, I –"

"Boys!" Sally Jackson's voice filtered through the walls, and Nico bit back a curse. "I've made dinner, and there's some for you, Nico, if you'd like to stay!"

Nico sat up. He couldn't meet Percy's eyes. "I should go," he said to the poster of Led Zeppelin that was tacked to the wall. "Mom's expecting me back."

"Okay. Sure." There was something odd about his friend's voice, something disembodied. Nico didn't have time to dwell on it. He had to get out, get back home, before he burst into the stupid tears he could feel building up behind his lashes. He'd been an idiot. He'd seen Percy with girlfriends, knew he was straight as an arrow. Thank goodness for the timing of Sally Jackson.

What had he been thinking?

(He hadn't, really – he couldn't hear anything over the beating of his heart. BA-BOOM, it said indignantly. BA-BOOM.)

"Thanks for the study help. I'll see you round." Without looking back, Nico swept all his things into his arms and shouldered open the door. He left with a shout of goodbye to Sally and Paul; he left with an unsaid I love you to Percy.

It was only later, when he was safely back inside his own bedroom, in his family's apartment, that he realised he'd left his aviator jacket draped over the back of Percy's desk chair.

The following afternoon, once Nico had got home from school, there was a knock at the door. He walked over, opening it unthinkingly, and staring back at him was that same faded orange t-shirt, that same not-precisely-pristine smile, those same eyes that Nico could drown in.

Time warp, Nico thought, because suddenly he was ten years old all over again.

Percy Jackson was so beautiful.

"I brought this," the older boy said with a half-smile. He held out Nico's aviator jacket. "I had it for you this morning, but Bianca said you'd caught the bus in." Nico took the jacket and avoided Percy's gaze. Usually Percy gave him and his sister a lift to school, but Nico hadn't even considered it that morning.

"Uh, yeah, sorry. Had this – class thingy."

"Right." Percy's tone was light, but when Nico chanced a look up from the spot on the floor he'd been fixated on, the eighteen-year-old's stare was anything but.

Suddenly Nico couldn't breathe. "Um, I need to –" He started to close the door, but a foot sprang out and jammed it. Percy stepped through the gap and Nico stumbled backwards.

"No," Percy said simply. "We need to talk."

"I don't –" Nico's stumbling led him to the kitchen, where he backed up against the corner counter. Percy leaned against the island.

"I think you do."

"I don't know what you mean."

Percy gave a sad half-laugh and stared up at the dim light bulb. "Right. So are we just going to ignore what happened yesterday?"

There was a tic in Nico's jaw. His heart started up again in that crazy 12/8 rhythm. BA-BOOM. BA-BOOM. BA-BA-BOOM. "What – happened – yesterday?" he murmured haltingly, looking at the ceiling, at the cupboards, at the cracked linoleum floor, anywhere but Percy.

"What do you think?" a voice said right by Nico's ear, and he jumped, because Percy was standing right there and he was looking at Nico with those big green eyes that no-one could refuse and how the hell did he move so fast and Nico was finding it so very hard to breathe.

"I think – um…" Nico's brain wouldn't answer his pleas. "You're not gay," he found himself blurting out, regretting it as soon as the words left his lips. Percy gave a derisive snort.

"I am allowed to like girls and boys, you know." He stepped in again, so close their chests were almost touching. How isn't it summer? Nico found himself wondering hazily. I'm burning up.

"You – you are?"

"Sei un idiota assoluto, lo sai, vero?"

Percy's arms snaked around Nico, anchoring them to the bench behind. There was nowhere to look but Percy's face, his smile, his eyes, and Nico found he didn't really mind in the slightest. "Sei uno più grande," he whispered softly.

"That could be taken as wrong on so many levels, dumbass," was Percy's snarky reply, but before Nico had time to be embarrassed, the older boy was leaning in, leaning, leaning, leaning, and –

Lips. Teeth. Tongue. Percy was all Nico could see, all he could hear, all he could feel, smell, taste. Saltwater, brine and sand, pine needles and shampoo, laundry detergent and chocolate, lemons and maple syrup and the ocean. He didn't know it was possible to feel so many things at once.

Percy eased back, staying close enough so their noses were touching. "Technically, this is illegal."

Nico laughed. He snaked his own arms around Percy's waist so their hips knocked together, slotting into place like puzzle pieces. He wound one arm up Percy's back and tangled his fingers in his hair. "Since when did you care about the rules?" he breathed, and then closed his eyes, and Percy laughed something softly in Italian, and then they were kissing again and Nico thought that maybe, maybe, this will be like the movies, like the music, like the books.

BA-BOOM, his heart sighed contentedly. BA-BOOM.

TRANSLATIONS
All from Google Translate, so sorry for inaccuracies. Feel free to correct in a review or PM.

Certo, Vostra Maestà. Sono ai tuoi ordini.
Of course, Your Majesty. I am yours to command.

Fottiti.
Fuck you.

Sì?
Yeah?

Sei un idiota assoluto, lo sai, vero?
You're an absolute idiot, you know that, don't you?

Sei uno più grande.
You're a bigger one.

Author's Note: SO it seems the cure for my months-long writer's block? The release of HoH of course! I'll admit, I never thought I'd write Percy with anyone who wasn't Annabeth...but here you go. I don't think I could ever accept this pairing in the canon universe, but as an AU? Hells yeah! Ages are also screwy here, I know, but just roll with it. Please review. xx