A/N- OKAY I'M OFFICIALLY THE WORST HUMAN BEING EVER TO WALK THE PLANET EARTH. I KNOW. I'M SO SORRY.

The only excuse I have is that I had extreme writer's block that I could not overcome. I'm the worst. I finally managed to write something and I'm not entirely happy with it so... You've been warned.

Also sorry if it's a bit different from the rest of the chapters... It's been awhile and I've been weird lately I don't know...

Anyway, onto what many of you have been waiting a long long time for...

SOTD: Budapest by George Ezra (because I can't get it out of my head)

-K

22

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Percy blinked awake a few hours after breakfast had ended. He and Nico had slept right through it, their brains deciding for themselves that sleep was more important than food this time.

Percy retracted his arms from their previous position around Nico's waist and instead stretched them in front of his body while his thoughts started to filter through his slowly awakening mind.

Nico let out a little whine when he realized Percy wasn't holding him anymore, and flipped over to give him a glare.

Percy grinned widely. "Oh, you're awake! Great!"

Nico continued to glare and even paired it with an angry scowl. "You're supposed to cuddle me until I say it's okay to stop."

Percy laughed. "How is it that you're so cute?"

"I'm not cute!" Nico screeched, which only made Percy laugh even harder. Nico lifted the blankets and wiggled underneath them. "I'm never coming out," he said, his voice faint from the layers covering his face.

"I think it's a little late for that," Percy smirked, even though he knew Nico couldn't see it. "You already came out of the closet, Neeks."

Nico uncovered a single hand to smack Percy's arm. Nico couldn't see his smirk, but he could definitely hear it in his voice. "Not what I meant, Jackson!"

"Resorting to last-name-calling, eh? Well, I'll tell you what, di Angelo, I could tease you all day." Percy's smart reply made Nico's scowl deepen.

"Fine," he sighed. He pulled the covers off his face and was greeted with a smug looking Percy. "No need to be so happy about my sorrow. What a great boyfriend you are."

Percy laughed, throwing his head back slightly. "You're right, I have been a lousy boyfriend recently." Percy paused. "Actually, you know what, we've only been on one date, technically. Let's go on another. Today."

Nico froze. While Percy was talking he'd been preoccupied trying to think of different plans in which he could succeed in getting Percy's shirt off, but Percy certainly had his full attention now.

"Today? Like... today?" Nico repeated.

"Yeah," Percy nodded. "It doesn't have to be a big thing. Something small, maybe a trip somewhere, out of camp. But not too far, you know how I feel about far shadow traveling."

Nico swallowed. He'd love to go on another date with Percy, maybe a movie and some lunch, but he had no time to prepare. He didn't even know what movies were out right now.

"You're overthinking it, Nico. Just a simple lunch date, you and me." Percy traced Nico's jaw with his thumb and suddenly nothing sounded more appealing than Percy.

"Yeah, sure. Are there any good movies out?" Nico asked.

"That's a good question," Percy said a little ruefully. "I wish I knew. Maybe there's a cheesy superhero film, and we can make fun of the 'villain' they have to face."

Nico laughed. "Yeah, okay. And then we could go for lunch, maybe?"

"Yeah," Percy agreed easily. "Anything, babe." Nico reddened at those two words, hiding his face in Percy's chest.

"C'mon, no more hiding. I want a kiss," Percy whined.

Nico smiled, bringing his face out of his boyfriend's chest so that he could kiss said boyfriend. Life was good.

"Alright, we should get ready, then." Percy climbed out of bed and tugged Nico out too.

"I don't have any clothes here," Nico mumbled, looking down at his black pajamas.

A wicked grin took over Percy's features, and he said, "You can borrow some of mine."

Nico shook his head. "They'll be big on me! And you wear too much blue."

"You'll look cute," Percy said, already leading him to a dresser. "C'mon, strip down to those boxers I saw yesterday."

Nico flushed. "Shut up!" He stripped down anyway, though.

"There we go," Percy's arms encircled his waist and a devilish smile was on his lips once more. Nico rolled his eyes.

"Earth to Percy, this is your boyfriend, you're supposed to be clothing me," Nico said, and had to resort to shaking Percy slightly to get him to snap out of it.

It was Percy's turn to blush. "Right, yeah." He turned to the wardrobe and pulled out the smallest blue t-shirt he owned and a pair of black jeans that Nico had accidentally left in his cabin. He turned and handed them to his boyfriend.

"Okay, this isn't so bad. Thanks." Nico slipped the clothes on, much to Percy's disappointment, and then stopped Percy from picking out his own clothes. "Nope, you got to pick out my clothes, I get to pick out yours. Strip down, babe."

Percy slipped his pants off, and then his shirt, and Nico's eyes took in every inch of the tan skin.

Holy shit. Percy was hot.

Now he could understand why shirtless was such a problem, it was beyond distracting. Nico found his eyes subconsciously raking over Percy's slightly defined muscles and gorgeous body.

Correction: Holy fucking shit. Percy was fucking hot.

"-make me shake you!" Percy's voice cut through Nico's hazy brain and Nico turned to the dresser to hide his blush-stained cheeks. He picked out the darkest shirt Percy had, which was a deep navy that closely resembled black. He also grabbed a pair of regular jeans, since Percy had allowed Nico black jeans.

When Nico turned back to his boyfriend, Percy had a huge smirk on his face. Nico scowled and handed the clothes to Percy, pointedly not looking anywhere but his face.

Percy purposefully faced Nico as he dressed, pausing before pulling his shirt on to stretch his arms above his head. Nico bit his lip and blatantly refused to give into temptation. Percy finally put on the shirt, and Nico felt a mixture of relief and disappointment.

"Asshole," Nico muttered quietly under his breath, but Percy still caught it.

"Nico!" He gasped. "I will not tolerate that sort of behavior in my presence."

Nico snorted, but Percy continued.

"Haven't you heard? I'm the kid who helped defeat Kronos! Bathed in the River Styx! And I held up the sky once too, you know, that was pretty cool. Or terrible. Whichever way you want to look at it." He paused. "Anyway, I'm amazing!"

By the end of Percy's little speech, Nico was in stitches. It was absolutely hilarious because it was the complete opposite of Percy's personality.

"Yes, sir! I forgot what a hero you are! Here, let me bow to you!" Nico said between laughs.

Percy stuck his nose up haughtily in the air, crossing his arms as Nico kneeled in front of him to begin bowing. "That's more like it."

"What is going on?" A voice at the door interrupted. The look of absolute confusion on Chiron's face was priceless, and caused both Nico and Percy to erupt in bouts of laughter.

A good few minutes later, when the laughter had died down to a few giggles here and there, Percy finally spoke. "Sorry about that Chiron, what was it that you needed?"

"I was just wondering if you were able to cover a sword fighting class today. I could ask Jason if you're busy, but these are some of the older kids so I thought you might want to step in." Chiron said, his brow still furrowed from the sight he just witnessed.

"Sorry, Chiron. Can't today." Percy pulled Nico into his side. "I've got a date with this cutie."

Nico blushed, hitting Percy's side lightly.

"Okay, perhaps next time then. Have fun, boys," Chiron said, smiling slightly as he went.

"Right then," Percy said after a few minutes. "Let's do this."

"Is it really appropriate to say 'let's do this' before a date?" Nico asked as he grabbed Percy's hand and led him to the shadiest corner of the room.

"Sure, why not?" Percy flicked his hair out of his eyes, of course drawing attention to the beautiful blue-green color of them that distracted Nico quite a bit.

"You're impossible." Nico frowned, refocusing his mind to shadow travel them to somewhere in town.

"You love me anyway." Percy grinned, throwing Nico slightly off track again. Nico finally pulled his mind together enough to focus on changing their locations, and they ended up near a cinema in New York City with a couple restaurants nearby that they could go to for lunch.

"...fine, okay. I love you anyway." Nico finally said fondly, letting go of one of Percy's hands but keeping the other as they walked.