igrab
in
grabi_hands
❄ december eighth | home for the holidays
title. home for the holidays
pairing. percy/nico
written for. antistar_e
wordcount. 1,686
summary. nico calls everywhere 'home'.
"Here, she wants to talk to you."
Percy held his shiny iPhone out and Nico took it quickly, propped it under his chin and went back to his DS without even pausing. "Hi, Mom."
He remembered the day he'd started calling Sally 'Mom'. It was the first day he'd moved in to the Jackson residence, and Percy had yelled a 'Bye Mom!' and Nico, unthinking, had done the same. He'd tried to apologize later, only to be met with a laugh and hug and an insistence that the title continue.
"Did you make it through airport security all right?"
"Ye~s, they didn't strip search us or anything. Pity." Nico smirked as Percy scowled at him, then flicked his eyes right back down to the screen. "We're boarding in a few minutes. Here," he hissed back at Percy, and handed the phone off. "Boss battle."
"Did you pack your toothbrush? Because I bought extras, just in case..."
"Mom." Percy sighed and frowned down at Nico, unamused. "We know how to pack to come home. We're not kids."
Nico muttered something under his breath, and Percy stuck out his tongue.
"Oh really?" Sally sounded very, very doubtful of that. "So what's Nico doing that's so important and adult-like, then?"
Percy sighed again, and Nico, who had a pretty good idea of the intent even if he couldn't hear what she actually said, chuckled. "We're demigods," he said. "We don't need to grow up."
He was 22 and Percy was 26, and they did plenty of adult things, like own an apartment and go grocery shopping and do dishes. (Percy had a job playing with dolphins on Catalina Island, and Nico was doing his final year at USC.) But they also played video games, went to anime conventions, and blew off deadlines on a regular basis. So no. They were grown-ups but they weren't grown up, and Nico never really wanted to be.
Percy said his goodbyes and hung up the phone just as Cagnazzo faded away in a burst of light and the victory fanfare played. Nico saved and closed his DS.
"Are we boarding yet?" he asked through a yawn.
Percy grinned. "Soon."
When they stepped out of JFK, Percy checked his phone and frowned.
"...Hey, I've got an idea."
Nico paused mid-yawn. "Yeah?"
"Let's go wander around the city for a bit first. You know, see the tree, window shop, whatever."
Nico's eyes narrowed. "....What's at home that you don't want me to see?"
"Nothing! Nothing at all."
"Percy...."
He turned to Nico with an apologetic grin. "Look, trust me. Let's go to Rockefeller Center for a little while, then we can go home. I promise."
Nico had no choice but to go along, but he was burning with curiosity. What was going on there? What did Percy know? What were they hiding from him? He took his hand, though, and they ooh'd and aah'd at the huge tree and got delicious holiday coffee from the Starbucks underground.
Percy's phone beeped and he checked it as fast as could. "...All right," he finally said. "Let's go."
The steps up to the Jackson apartments were so familiar. He knew which ones creaked, which had been recarpeted, and he didn't know which ones he'd made out with Percy on, because it would probably be all of them. Steps were really convenient when one half of a partnership is short.
Technically, when he stood up straight, he was an inch taller than Percy, now. But he didn't feel like it. He still felt like that short kid who would never grow, who barely came up to Percy's chin but was just right for snuggling, though he didn't admit to it. And then he'd hit growth spurts and regretted it. But now they could kiss without standing on tiptoe, and without stairs.
The banisters were wrapped in fake holly and wide scarlet ribbon, just like every year. Nico had marveled at it for years, because he never seemed to be able to catch the apartment staff in the process of putting it up - it was like he blinked, and there it was, or as if someone flipped a switch and suddenly it was Christmas. Then one year he'd been home from school sick, and he'd inadvertently discovered the banisters half-done. It was both satisfying and disappointing, like the magic was gone.
They came to the door and Percy stopped him. He let his bag drop to the floor and wrapped his hands around Nico's face, his body warm and close and familiar behind, no light peeking through at all. He leaned to whisper in his ear. "Don't you dare look until I say it's okay."
"Sure," Nico said, already grinning. Okay, whatever it was, it was going to be amazing. Or completely horrifying. There was still that option, but somehow, he doubted that.
He stepped over the threshold without guidance, because he knew this place, through darkness and light. He knew exactly how wide the door was and how high the bump on the doorframe, and he knew to swerve right just after entering because the edge of the kitchen table was there, and Percy stumbled into his back and Nico laughed. It smelled like cinnamon and evergreen. It smelled like home.
They stood in the archway to the living room, and Percy lifted his hands.
"...Can I look now?" Nico whispered.
"Yes, duh," Percy shot back.
He opened his eyes.
The living room was just how he remembered it, from the last time he'd been here, over the summer. The carpet was thick and kind of lumpy, the couch didn't match the walls, and there was still tacky art that Percy had done in preschool, right next to the less-tacky-but-still-horrendous paintings from Nico's short-lived high school art class. The Christmas tree leaned slightly to the left. Callie's pony figurines (they had a sister now, Calliope. She was eight.) had been hastily shoved aside.
But Nico only glanced over all of that, because there was something new in this living room. A small upright piano now warred with the TV for the left wall. It had a big red bow on it.
Nico felt his jaw drop. A piano. A real, playable, non-electric piano. It was black and only a little worn and it was sitting there, in his living room, with a big red bow and a card, obviously drawn by Callie, that said (in five different colors) 'Nico'.
Percy pushed him towards it. "Merry Christmas," he said. "Go on. Play something."
He stumbled as he tried to sit down. His legs were stiff and awkward and A PIANO, his brain couldn't even wrap itself around the concept. His fingers hovered over the keys.
He looked up at Percy, eyes round and wide. "What should I play?"
"I don't know, anything," Percy mumbled, grinning and embarrassed.
He played the first thing that came to mind.
Oh, there’s no place like home for the holidays,
For no matter how far away you roam -
When you long for the sunshine of a friendly gaze,
For the holidays - you can’t beat home, sweet home.
He suddenly missed Bianca.
Memories would come back, every now and then. He would see something and it was like deja vu, and sometimes he would be able to grasp it and sometimes it would slip away, leaving him with an empty longing for a memory that wouldn't even mean anything anymore. His life was a life of movement, of never being in the same place. It was all disjointed, but his memories rallied around the people within them - the people Nico clung to, that made it all worth it, that made it special. Once upon a time, it had only been Bianca.
He fancied he could hear her violin, playing along to his sudden quiet chords. He missed her. He wished she could be here, to meet the people that were so important to him now. He wished she could share the home he'd made here.
If you want to be happy in a million ways,
For the holidays - you can’t beat home, sweet home.
The last note died away. Percy sat on the bench next to him and Nico wrapped an arm around his waist, tucked his head into Percy's shoulder. "Love you," he mumbled.
Percy hugged him back, seemed to understand. "You know, I've noticed something."
"Mmm?"
He felt Percy smile into his hair. "You tend to call every place 'home'. This is home, the apartment in LA is home, the Underworld is home - even Annabeth's house and Rachel's. It's all home."
Nico squirmed. "I don't know; it just comes out - "
"But they are." Percy kissed the top of his head. "They're all home. To you. You're at home wherever you go."
"That's because I have you."
And Percy was right. It didn't matter if they were back in LA, or in his dad's palace, or Annabeth's or Rachel's or Camp Half-Blood. They'd spent Christmas in all of those places. But the important part was that they spent Christmas together - well, they spent every minute they could together, and it still wasn't enough. Percy was the the fulcrum, the focus of his life - just as Bianca had once been, and for once Nico felt okay with that, with seeing these times in his life side by side and understanding that one had to end for the other to begin. For him to take charge of himself, and choose his life. His home.
He'd made the right choice.
pairing. percy/nico
written for. antistar_e
wordcount. 1,686
summary. nico calls everywhere 'home'.
"Here, she wants to talk to you."
Percy held his shiny iPhone out and Nico took it quickly, propped it under his chin and went back to his DS without even pausing. "Hi, Mom."
He remembered the day he'd started calling Sally 'Mom'. It was the first day he'd moved in to the Jackson residence, and Percy had yelled a 'Bye Mom!' and Nico, unthinking, had done the same. He'd tried to apologize later, only to be met with a laugh and hug and an insistence that the title continue.
"Did you make it through airport security all right?"
"Ye~s, they didn't strip search us or anything. Pity." Nico smirked as Percy scowled at him, then flicked his eyes right back down to the screen. "We're boarding in a few minutes. Here," he hissed back at Percy, and handed the phone off. "Boss battle."
"Did you pack your toothbrush? Because I bought extras, just in case..."
"Mom." Percy sighed and frowned down at Nico, unamused. "We know how to pack to come home. We're not kids."
Nico muttered something under his breath, and Percy stuck out his tongue.
"Oh really?" Sally sounded very, very doubtful of that. "So what's Nico doing that's so important and adult-like, then?"
Percy sighed again, and Nico, who had a pretty good idea of the intent even if he couldn't hear what she actually said, chuckled. "We're demigods," he said. "We don't need to grow up."
He was 22 and Percy was 26, and they did plenty of adult things, like own an apartment and go grocery shopping and do dishes. (Percy had a job playing with dolphins on Catalina Island, and Nico was doing his final year at USC.) But they also played video games, went to anime conventions, and blew off deadlines on a regular basis. So no. They were grown-ups but they weren't grown up, and Nico never really wanted to be.
Percy said his goodbyes and hung up the phone just as Cagnazzo faded away in a burst of light and the victory fanfare played. Nico saved and closed his DS.
"Are we boarding yet?" he asked through a yawn.
Percy grinned. "Soon."
When they stepped out of JFK, Percy checked his phone and frowned.
"...Hey, I've got an idea."
Nico paused mid-yawn. "Yeah?"
"Let's go wander around the city for a bit first. You know, see the tree, window shop, whatever."
Nico's eyes narrowed. "....What's at home that you don't want me to see?"
"Nothing! Nothing at all."
"Percy...."
He turned to Nico with an apologetic grin. "Look, trust me. Let's go to Rockefeller Center for a little while, then we can go home. I promise."
Nico had no choice but to go along, but he was burning with curiosity. What was going on there? What did Percy know? What were they hiding from him? He took his hand, though, and they ooh'd and aah'd at the huge tree and got delicious holiday coffee from the Starbucks underground.
Percy's phone beeped and he checked it as fast as could. "...All right," he finally said. "Let's go."
The steps up to the Jackson apartments were so familiar. He knew which ones creaked, which had been recarpeted, and he didn't know which ones he'd made out with Percy on, because it would probably be all of them. Steps were really convenient when one half of a partnership is short.
Technically, when he stood up straight, he was an inch taller than Percy, now. But he didn't feel like it. He still felt like that short kid who would never grow, who barely came up to Percy's chin but was just right for snuggling, though he didn't admit to it. And then he'd hit growth spurts and regretted it. But now they could kiss without standing on tiptoe, and without stairs.
The banisters were wrapped in fake holly and wide scarlet ribbon, just like every year. Nico had marveled at it for years, because he never seemed to be able to catch the apartment staff in the process of putting it up - it was like he blinked, and there it was, or as if someone flipped a switch and suddenly it was Christmas. Then one year he'd been home from school sick, and he'd inadvertently discovered the banisters half-done. It was both satisfying and disappointing, like the magic was gone.
They came to the door and Percy stopped him. He let his bag drop to the floor and wrapped his hands around Nico's face, his body warm and close and familiar behind, no light peeking through at all. He leaned to whisper in his ear. "Don't you dare look until I say it's okay."
"Sure," Nico said, already grinning. Okay, whatever it was, it was going to be amazing. Or completely horrifying. There was still that option, but somehow, he doubted that.
He stepped over the threshold without guidance, because he knew this place, through darkness and light. He knew exactly how wide the door was and how high the bump on the doorframe, and he knew to swerve right just after entering because the edge of the kitchen table was there, and Percy stumbled into his back and Nico laughed. It smelled like cinnamon and evergreen. It smelled like home.
They stood in the archway to the living room, and Percy lifted his hands.
"...Can I look now?" Nico whispered.
"Yes, duh," Percy shot back.
He opened his eyes.
The living room was just how he remembered it, from the last time he'd been here, over the summer. The carpet was thick and kind of lumpy, the couch didn't match the walls, and there was still tacky art that Percy had done in preschool, right next to the less-tacky-but-still-horrendous paintings from Nico's short-lived high school art class. The Christmas tree leaned slightly to the left. Callie's pony figurines (they had a sister now, Calliope. She was eight.) had been hastily shoved aside.
But Nico only glanced over all of that, because there was something new in this living room. A small upright piano now warred with the TV for the left wall. It had a big red bow on it.
Nico felt his jaw drop. A piano. A real, playable, non-electric piano. It was black and only a little worn and it was sitting there, in his living room, with a big red bow and a card, obviously drawn by Callie, that said (in five different colors) 'Nico'.
Percy pushed him towards it. "Merry Christmas," he said. "Go on. Play something."
He stumbled as he tried to sit down. His legs were stiff and awkward and A PIANO, his brain couldn't even wrap itself around the concept. His fingers hovered over the keys.
He looked up at Percy, eyes round and wide. "What should I play?"
"I don't know, anything," Percy mumbled, grinning and embarrassed.
He played the first thing that came to mind.
Oh, there’s no place like home for the holidays,
For no matter how far away you roam -
When you long for the sunshine of a friendly gaze,
For the holidays - you can’t beat home, sweet home.
He suddenly missed Bianca.
Memories would come back, every now and then. He would see something and it was like deja vu, and sometimes he would be able to grasp it and sometimes it would slip away, leaving him with an empty longing for a memory that wouldn't even mean anything anymore. His life was a life of movement, of never being in the same place. It was all disjointed, but his memories rallied around the people within them - the people Nico clung to, that made it all worth it, that made it special. Once upon a time, it had only been Bianca.
He fancied he could hear her violin, playing along to his sudden quiet chords. He missed her. He wished she could be here, to meet the people that were so important to him now. He wished she could share the home he'd made here.
If you want to be happy in a million ways,
For the holidays - you can’t beat home, sweet home.
The last note died away. Percy sat on the bench next to him and Nico wrapped an arm around his waist, tucked his head into Percy's shoulder. "Love you," he mumbled.
Percy hugged him back, seemed to understand. "You know, I've noticed something."
"Mmm?"
He felt Percy smile into his hair. "You tend to call every place 'home'. This is home, the apartment in LA is home, the Underworld is home - even Annabeth's house and Rachel's. It's all home."
Nico squirmed. "I don't know; it just comes out - "
"But they are." Percy kissed the top of his head. "They're all home. To you. You're at home wherever you go."
"That's because I have you."
And Percy was right. It didn't matter if they were back in LA, or in his dad's palace, or Annabeth's or Rachel's or Camp Half-Blood. They'd spent Christmas in all of those places. But the important part was that they spent Christmas together - well, they spent every minute they could together, and it still wasn't enough. Percy was the the fulcrum, the focus of his life - just as Bianca had once been, and for once Nico felt okay with that, with seeing these times in his life side by side and understanding that one had to end for the other to begin. For him to take charge of himself, and choose his life. His home.
He'd made the right choice.