Entry o5. it's hard to dance (with the devil on your back)
Title: it’s hard to dance (with the devil on your back)
Entry Number: 05
Author: Callunavulgari
Fandom: Percy Jackson & the Olympians
Rating: NC-17
Genre: mythology, slice-of-life, porn-with-plot
Spoiler Warnings: Up to the Son of Neptune.
Word Count: 4648 words
“This was a terrible idea,” Percy tells Nico, still brushing graveyard soil from his hair. Nico just gives him this look, and replies, “What, you don’t want to meet the family?”
“Dude, if we get down to the nitty gritty, we are family,” he says back, because having a bunch of incestuous gods as parents means that the kids are pretty much destined to be a little incestuous as well.
Nico just smirks and takes his hand.
.
It starts because Nico starts coming home more exhausted and wrung out than usual, the smudges beneath his eyes so dark that it almost looks like he got socked in the eyes. Percy watches him stoop, face lit up by the bare bulb of the refrigerator as he roots around through all the probably expired lunch meat. Eventually he emerges, kind of victorious, with a truly sad looking carrot.
He takes a bite of it, making a face as he turns around.
Percy raises an eyebrow at him when he spits the mouthful of produce into the kitchen sink, tossing the rest of the carrot with it.
“We really need to go grocery shopping,” Nico says, dropping onto the couch next to him like a sack of bones. He bounces, ungracefully, and lands partially on Percy’s ankle.
“Probably,” Percy says, tossing Nico’s 3DS onto the stand next to him and extracting his ankle from beneath a stubbornly bony ass. There’s only so much Monster Hunter he can take in one day without feeling like he's still stubbornly rooted in reality, and apparently he’s found his limit. Besides, cuddling with Nico is nice, even if he is a bony little menace who complains a lot, like he doesn’t love Percy wrapped around him.
“What’s got you so blue?” Percy asks once his chin’s comfortably nestled in the cradle of Nico’s collarbone. Nico shrugs, snatching up the remote and flipping on the tv. He switches between channels for a bit before he finally settles on one of those new, weird acid-trip cartoons that are so popular nowadays.
“It’s nothing,” he sighs, tossing the remote down next to the 3DS. He turns his face up, expectant, towards Percy. “Now kiss me.”
Percy does, because he can never resist Nico’s lips when they’re quite so close, and of course the kiss evolves into something more-Nico crawling into his lap, all pointy angles and quick hands as he hitches his hips down into Percy’s-and okay, yeah, so this is apparently how the afternoon’s going to go.
He doesn’t quite forget his question-it’s hard to forget when Nico’s so close, when Percy can map the stretch of skin and bones with his hands-count ribs that he hadn’t been able to count a week ago.
He does shrug it aside though, because sex is awesome and also, he’s twenty-four years old, which is practically still a teenager. Besides, Nico will tell him when he’s ready.
.
It gets worse.
The day that Nico blacks out after attempting to raise a single skeleton-leaving Percy to fend off the relentless hydra alone-he starts getting concerned.
.
“It’s just,” Nico starts, face lit up blue by whatever scene they’ve left paused. His lip is trembling a little and if Percy wanted, he could skate his fingers along the line of a dangerously sharp cheekbone. Nico sighs, dropping his head onto Percy’s shoulder.
“It’s my dad,” he says, and Percy stops for a second, because that wasn’t really what he was expecting.
“What about him?” Percy asks a moment later, recovering from his shock as Nico glares over his shoulder at him. “I mean, I didn’t know you’d heard from him since-”
Since you guys had that weird falling out that you still won’t tell me about.
He bites down on his lip, hard, and doesn’t finish the sentence.
“He’s just being difficult,” Nico sighs, tracing patterns through Percy’s arm hair.
They’ve had this apartment for going on three years, and Nico’s been living with him for at least two of them. Officially he’s only been on the lease for one, but the point is, that in all that time, Nico’s never really brought up the subject of Hades.
“Define difficult,” Percy presses, because with Hades that could mean anything from he’s being a weenie to he’s about to start the next world war.
Nico huffs an annoyed breath into the air between them. “Look, it’s nothing, okay, I can handle it.”
“Dude,” Percy says. “You passed out trying to raise one itty bitty skeleton. You’re starting to look like a corpse yourself.”
You’re scaring me, he doesn’t say.
“He wants to meet you, all right?”
Percy stares at him, blinking. “Wait, what?”
.
He’s pretty sure he’s already met Hades-it isn’t something he can easily forget-and he’d told Nico as much, watching his face fall a little.
“I know, I know, you guys met a couple times,” he says, and Percy laughs shrilly, ever so slightly hysterical.
“The last time I met him I was fifteen years old and you were selling me into a lifetime of slavery.”
“He would have let you go, eventually,” Nico protests. He looks shifty. “And it wasn’t slavery, he would have just left you in that cell to rot.”
“That’s really not much better Nico. That might actually be a little worse, I don’t know, at least I would have gotten exercise as a slave.”
Nico makes a frustrated sound, crumpling back into the couch and tugging at his hair. “This is why I didn’t want to tell you,” he groans, slanting an irritated look over at Percy, who can’t seem to get his legs to stop pacing. “I knew you would freak out.”
“I’m not freaking out,” Percy argues. The television is still paused on an unflattering angle of the inside of Selma Blair’s nose. He’s tempted unpause it, just to make the image go away.
“You’re totally freaking out.”
Okay, maybe he’s freaking out a little bit, but he’s got every right to. Hades isn’t exactly his biggest fan and…
“Wait, does he know we’re dating?”
Nico stares at him, a bit blankly. Percy can’t tell if it’s the kind of look that means he’s being stupid or if Nico’s just a hundred and ten percent done with his shit. Considering his track record, it’s probably both.
“Yeah, he knows,” is all Nico says, but there’s something about the twist of his lips that makes Percy think of that night a couple years ago that Nico had come home bleeding and bruised. He’d shrugged it off then, something about never taking the subway again, and a day later Percy had found out about the fight he’d had with his dad.
“It was nothing,” he’d said. “My dad’s just a dick.”
“We’re half-bloods, dude,” Percy had replied, appalled. “All of our parents are dicks. But I don’t come home bleeding after a chat with my dad.”
“Just drop it, Percy,” Nico sighed, eyes like chips of black ice, and reluctantly, Percy had.
“Wait a second,” Percy hisses. “That was what that fight was about, wasn’t it?”
Nico flinches, like he’s been smacked.
“Just drop it, Percy,” he sighs, and the way his voice syncs up perfectly with the one from Percy’s memory makes an eerie sense of deja-vu catch and snag on the corner of his brain.
“No can do,” he chirps, dropping back down onto the couch like all of his strings have been cut. Guilt is an ugly, black thing curling in his gut. He regrets not pressing the matter then, but he’d thought Nico needed space. Apparently he was wrong.
He doesn’t know what to say. His dad, thus far, hasn’t figured out that he’s dating the kid who dipped him in the River Styx when he was fifteen years old, and he wants to keep it that way. He’s proud of Nico, he is. His mom knew about Nico within a week, even though that was mostly because at eighteen and fifteen, neither of them were very subtle. It’s different, his mom and Paul knowing, because they’ve always been fond of Nico. There isn’t a thousand year rivalry involved with either of them, for one.
He sighs, burying his nose in Nico’s neck and inhaling the smell of him. Nico used to think it was weird, but now he just huffs a half-amused breath and leans into the touch. Percy thinks about what his dad would do if he found out, wonders if hurricane season would come early or if there would only be a couple minor tropical storms. He thinks of Hades and his weighty, judgemental stare, and knows what he has to do. It’s probably better if Nico is the one to say it though.
“So, what do I have to do?”
.
“This was a terrible idea,” Percy tells Nico, still brushing graveyard soil from his hair. Nico just gives him this look, and replies-
.
The underworld is about the same as it was the last time Percy saw it. There’s an opportunity for a joke there, probably, and he remembers watching Hercules with his mom when he was little-James Wood’s voice rapid fire and sarcastic as Hades shrugged at Zeus and quipped, You know, a little dark, a little gloomy. And, as always, hey, full of dead people. What are you gonna do?
They didn’t actually go through the back entrance this time. Instead, Nico had pulled him close, until they were flush against each other, tapped a finger up against his lips and said, “Don’t tell my dad I can do this.”
He’ll probably never forget the feeling of sinking through grave soil, drowning on earth the way he could never drown in water, but Nico’s fingers against his lips keeps him grounded through the shadows.
“This is where you found Hazel,” he remarks, blinking his eyes open and taking in the endless stretch of long, brown grass. Nico frowns, glancing around like he’s just noticed where they are.
“Shit, missed it,” he hisses.
Percy cocks an eyebrow at him. “Where were you aiming for?”
“My room,” Nico deadpans, unphased when the spirit of a young girl walks right through him. He’s probably used to it.
“I kind of forgot you had a room here,” Percy snorts, kicking at the blade of grass tickling his ankle.
“Yeah, well, I haven’t lived there in a while. C’mon, we aren’t too far from dad’s place.”
“Romantic walk around the underworld, that’s totally what I wanted to do with my day,” Percy teases as Nico grabs his hand, pulling him through the grass. It feels like walking through molasses, but Nico shows no signs of even feeling it.
.
The throne room’s gotten bigger since the last time he was here. He would have thought it would have felt smaller, considering that he was bigger, but who knows with other planes of existence.
Hades throne is the same though, just as morbid as it was the last time he saw it. It looks weird to have a throne of grinning skulls and chipped femurs right next to one made of daisies, but Persephone and Hades were kind of an odd couple anyway.
“Well, well, well, Percy Jackson,” Hades breathes, leaning forward and steepling his fingers together. He looks like every cliche villain that Percy has ever seen and for one heart stopping moment, he’s overcome with an urge to giggle.
Nico steps on his foot.
“Sir,” he coughs, finally. He doesn’t bow, though he’s briefly tempted to curtsy. He turns to Persephone, who’s watching them with interest. He does dip a slight bow to her, because credit where credit’s due, her and her mother did kind of save his ass that one time. “M’aam.”
Apparently, Hades isn’t too pleased about it, because his eyes are narrowed.
“It’s lovely to meet you again, Percy Jackson. You’re looking more and more like my brother by the day.”
The way he says it, it’s obvious that it isn’t a compliment. “Thanks,” Percy says, grinning. “Though I’m pretty sure I’ve got my mom’s jaw. Good thing, that.”
A muscle in Hades’ jaw tics violently.
He can hear Nico’s strained breathing beside him, little uneasy gasps like he’s a few steps away from falling straight into a panic attack. Guilt curdles like sour milk at the back of his throat, because this was what was making Nico so uneasy-this meeting-his boyfriend and his dad.
Percy sighs and mentally tugs on his big boy shorts, sweeping into a low bow.
“Sorry, sir. Old habits die hard, as I’m sure you know. It’s nice to see you’re doing well.”
When he straightens back up, the first thing he really notices is the silence. He finds three people staring at him with varying degrees of disbelief. Nico’s mouth is actually hanging open a little, so Percy reaches over and uses one finger to push it closed. It’s hard not to hipcheck him in front of his dad, it really is.
Persephone’s the one who clears her throat and breaks the silence.
“We’ve had a room readied for you, Percy, though I highly doubt you will be using it. Nico, if you would like to show him around, be our guest. Dinner’s at eight.”
The dismissal is clear in her voice.
They go.
.
“I really did forget you had a room here,” he says again, glancing around. It’s big-bigger than the room they share at the apartment. It’s also very… dark. All the furnishings have been done in black, the only color the bright yellow of a bundle of dandelions on the nightstand.
He doesn’t need to see Nico’s glower to know that Persephone isn’t just trying to cheer up the room.
Nico shrugs at him, flopping back onto the bed. The sheets ripple like an oil slick and for a moment, it looks like Nico is drowning in darkness. Then Nico smiles at him-this lopsided, affectionate thing that has Percy grinning back before he even realizes the corners of his mouth are twitching.
“Come here,” Nico whispers, voice half sigh, half purr. Percy lets himself get tugged down after him-lets Nico roll them over until their legs are fitted together like puzzle pieces. Nico grins down at him, shadows slanted across his face like they’re sluiced on, and kisses Percy slow and sweet. It’s a long kiss, making him feel like a teenager again. He’d been eighteen when him and Nico started their fumbling attempt at a romance, long enough after him and Annabeth had broken up that necking up against walls felt brand new all over again.
Nico rolls his hips slowly against his, like a question, lashes fluttering. Percy sucks in a sharp breath.
He laughs nervously, eyes flicking to and from the door. “You really wanna be doing this here?” he asks shakily, voice going choppy when Nico bites down on the curve of his jaw. He sucks a bruise into the skin there, and Percy squirms beneath him, dick hard and straining against his jeans.
“Why not?” Nico counters, going for Percy’s zipper and slipping a hand inside his pants. “We’ve done it at your mom’s house before.”
His breathing stutters, hips canting up into Nico’s touch of their own accord. He’s kissing a line down Percy’s chest, rucking his shirt up so he can lick at the flat planes of Percy’s stomach-grinning at him, eyes glinting in the dark. His wrist is at a weird enough angle that it probably hurts when he rocks their hips together again, trapping Percy’s dick between denim-clad crotch and the palm of his hand.
“This is-fuck-so much different than that, Nico, and you know it.”
"I love making you curse," Nico mutters, chuckling darkly, and does something magical with his hand that makes Percy’s eyes go heavy-lidded, pupils dilating so quickly that he can feel the change. When he blinks, Nico’s sliding Percy’s pants and boxers down over his thighs.
“Why are you still wearing clothes,” he whines and makes grabby motions until Nico shucks his shirt over his head and dips down for another kiss.
“Technically we’re both still wearing clothes,” Nico replies, which is a travesty, but also true.
“We should fix that,” Percy gasps into his mouth, feeling Nico’s smirk tilt against his lips.
“I don’t suppose you have lube?” Nico asks a minute later, when they’re both comfortably naked and sliding against each other. Percy has to blink three times and still Nico’s hips with his palm before he can register the question.
“No!” he squeaks, horrified. “Sorry, but when you told me your dad wanted to meet me I didn’t think ‘oh hey, better grab lube and condoms.’”
Nico blinks at him, eyelashes dragging slowly against his cheeks-unimpressed-and shrugs. “Okay,” he says, and dips his hand into the shadows pooling between them. From his angle, it looks like Nico’s got a hand through Percy’s stomach. It makes him want to shift, see if the shadows will change direction, but a stern look from Nico keeps him still.
When he pulls his hand back out, there’s a very familiar jar of KY sitting in his palm-the same one that had been sitting innocuously on their nightstand when they left the apartment.
“No condoms?” he asks, craning his neck up like they’ll magically appear.
Nico rolls his eyes. “You’re the only person I’ve ever fucked and I know for damn sure that Annabeth was clean. It’s about time we stop wasting our money on them.”
Percy thinks about protesting, because that’s not the only reason to use condoms. For one, they aren’t as messy. Before he can say anything though, Nico leans in close and nips at his ear, whispers- “And besides, I want to sit at that dinner table tonight knowing that your come is still inside of me.”
It shouldn’t be sexy-it shouldn’t. The idea of jizz squelching around inside of him doesn’t sound very appealing to Percy, but the slow way Nico growls it into his ear, like it’s something he wants so desperately he’ll beg makes heat twist low in Percy’s guts-a bead of pre-come forming against the tip of his dick. Nico makes a pleased noise, bending down to lick it off.
“Okay, yeah, I’m totally down for that,” he pants and Nico shoots him a smug grin before sucking the entirety of Percy’s cock into his mouth, swallowing down every inch until it bumps up against the back of his throat.
Percy loves the way that Nico gives head. Sex with Annabeth had been great when they were together, in the way that first times always are-it was awkward and awesome, so good that it felt like the world was ending and so bad that Percy was sure it was. And Annabeth had been good at this too, but she was always so meticulous, going at it like she’d calculated every angle beforehand.
Nico’s sloppy and enthusiastic, slurping at Percy’s dick with wet, audible noises that make Percy squirm with a distant kind of embarrassment. Nico doesn’t give a shit whether it’s pretty or not, because it isn’t a show for him-it’s something he genuinely likes doing-something he gets off on. Nico likes the feel of Percy’s dick stretching his lips wide, Percy’s hands tugging on his hair. He likes it when Percy’s world goes a little hazy and he forgets himself, fucking Nico’s mouth the way he’d fuck his ass.
He’s told Percy so, because the first time that Percy surfaced out of that hazy fog and found Nico with bruised lips and come smeared on his chin, he’d been horrified and apologized until Nico jerked him close and whispered in that wrecked, cocksucker voice, “Sometimes, Percy, I like it rough.”
When Percy feels himself getting too close, he eases Nico off of him, whimpering at the sight of Nico’s swollen, wet lips-a line of spit connecting them. It snaps, and the greedy way Nico’s eying his wet dick makes him whine low in his throat.
A surge of want hits him then, and for a moment he’s about to propose a change of plans, because the image of Nico balls deep inside of him, long fingers curled in Percy’s hair, body stretched out over his, almost has him coming then and there. But no, that’s not what Nico wants this time. Not here. Maybe when they get home Percy will let Nico fuck him until he has to call in sick the next day, but right now this is about Nico.
“You want me to do it?” he asks when Nico twists upright, a finger buried to the knuckle inside himself. The grin Nico sends him in response is all heat, spreading his legs wider in invitation so there’s room for Percy between them-room for Percy to slip a finger in next to Nico’s.
“You’re certainly welcome to help,” Nico gasps, rocking down onto their fingers eagerly. Percy slips another finger in alongside the first two and thinks that for anyone else-hell, for him-this would be too much, too fast, but Nico just keens, cock twitching against his belly.
“Hmm,” Percy breathes, leaning in to lick the sweat from Nico’s collarbone-twisting his fingers so Nico whimpers.
“Okay, okay,” Nico pants, jerking his own finger out and tugging Percy’s free in the same movement. “I’m good, just fuck me now.”
“Say please,” Percy purrs, trailing his wet knuckles along the curve of Nico’s ass, just to hear the ragged way Nico’s voice catches on the word “please.”
He dithers around, trying to figure out exactly what position he wants him in, and apparently it’s taking too long because Nico hisses, tongue between his teeth, and yanks Percy back down, rolling him so he’s on his back. Percy blinks and then Nico’s climbing on top of him, taking hold of Percy’s cock and rubbing it wetly between his cheeks before sinking back onto it, too slow.
Nico likes teasing himself like this-while Percy’s all about just jumping straight into things, Nico likes to go slow. He likes feeling the burn of the stretch, likes holding himself open with just the tip of Percy’s dick inside of him-sliding down so slow that by the time he’s bottomed out Percy is aching with the need to move.
“Fuck,” he murmurs, hips twitching with the need to thrust up into that heat. Nico grins down at him when he’s finally taken Percy in all the way, then pulls up so quickly that Percy almost pops out. Then he’s sliding back down again, teeth clamped tight to his lower lip, just as slow. It’s worth it to see the way that Nico flushes all the way down to his chest, body practically singing with pleasure.
“Move, move, move, oh god, please,” he whimpers and Nico laughs, loud and bright, his teeth a flash of white in the dark.
“I’m only part god,” he purrs, and Percy groans, because it’s not the first time he’s heard the joke, and it’s still not funny.
It doesn’t take long for Nico to get really into it-it never does. He’s patient up until he really isn’t, and then he starts getting enthusiastic. He hadn’t been very good at it right off the bat, but hell, no one’s good at sex at the start. Nico had been a very endearing virgin, shyness that would turn snappy the moment Percy said something wrong, biting back moans and muffling curses with pillows. Somewhere along the way, he’d turned into an intense lover. Not quite overnight, but eventually, Nico had decided that he really liked sex and that he might as well enjoy it as loudly as possible.
It got them in trouble a few times back at Percy’s mom’s house, the most memorable of which was the time that Nico had shadow-hopped his way into the hallway bathroom while Percy was taking a shower, backed himself up against the wall and made Percy fuck him until he wailed. Paul hadn’t been too happy when he’d burst in, expecting Percy to be getting chewed on by some monster, and gotten an up close and personal view of Nico’s asshole stretched around Percy’s dick.
Percy had moved out shortly after, not because they’d kicked him out, but because of how mortifying it was when Paul couldn’t stop blushing around both of them.
This time is no different; Percy briefly hopes that Hades’ room is far enough away that he can’t hear his son yelling Percy’s name. He doesn’t give a shit, because Nico’s rolling his hips with abandon, using Percy’s dick like it’s a goddamn free-for-all rodeo. He just clutches tight to Nico’s narrow hips and tries to survive the ride.
Percy winces at how loud Nico shouts when he comes, thinking that there’s no possible way that Hades didn’t hear that. Hopefully he isn’t going to get his soul ripped out before he comes. Nico slumps for a moment, catching his breath, and Percy takes the time to roll them over until Nico’s sprawled boneless beneath him against the sheets.
Percy makes himself hold still, Nico’s come drying against his chest, and waits until Nico lets out a whine and tries to rock back onto him. Only then does he resume fucking him, pounding into him hard and fast, just the way Nico likes to be fucked right after coming.
“Mm, Percy,” Nico murmurs into his ear, his voice raspy and grating in all the right ways, and that’s it-that’s enough to send Percy over the edge.
He’s much quieter than Nico, grinding his hips into him as the last few jolts of pleasure go down his spine.
“Damn,” Nico whispers into his shoulder. Percy can feel the outline of his lazy grin pressed into his skin. He laughs, shakily, and pulls out slowly, drawing shaky groans out of both of them. He flops over onto his back, ungracefully, and ponders the ceiling. He wonders if there’s a working shower here, or if they’re going to have to go to dinner reeking of sex. Maybe that was the point of it.
Curiously, he reaches over, slipping his thumb between Nico’s legs and lazily skating it around the rim of his hole. Nico shifts, groaning when Percy’s finger sinks into him, just a little-enough to feel how slick he is inside.
“Stop that,” he rasps, whacking Percy’s shoulder.
Percy laughs at him.
“So, how exactly do we know it’s eight?” he asks after a minute, and Nico snorts. Time passes differently in the underworld, same as it does in Olympus, and Percy’s pretty sure he’s never seen an actual clock. The dead have all of eternity, what use do they have with time?
“They’ll send for us when dinner’s ready,” he mutters. Then, like an afterthought- “I packed us our own dinner by the way. Don’t let dad talk you into eating anything they serve.”
It takes him a second to work his way around that one, and when he does, he feels ridiculously stupid. Annabeth would have smacked him.
He sighs and wriggles closer. Nico throws an arm around his hips, drooling a little on Percy’s shoulder.
He doesn’t bother wiping it away.
.
“So,” Persephone smirks at them later. “Did Nico take you on the tour at all or did you two spend all your time in bed?”
Hades is blushing, just a little, but mostly he looks angry.
Nico shifts pointedly next to him and takes a bite of his sandwich. With his mouth full of pastrami he smirks back and says, “We didn’t spend all our time in bed. We spent some of it in the shower too.”
Percy chokes on a blueberry.
Hades just looks murderous.
.
Nico laughs for an hour when they get back home. Percy scowls at him.
“You think it’s funny now,” he remarks. “Just wait until you get to ‘meet’ my dad.”
Entry Number: 05
Author: Callunavulgari
Fandom: Percy Jackson & the Olympians
Rating: NC-17
Genre: mythology, slice-of-life, porn-with-plot
Spoiler Warnings: Up to the Son of Neptune.
Word Count: 4648 words
“This was a terrible idea,” Percy tells Nico, still brushing graveyard soil from his hair. Nico just gives him this look, and replies, “What, you don’t want to meet the family?”
“Dude, if we get down to the nitty gritty, we are family,” he says back, because having a bunch of incestuous gods as parents means that the kids are pretty much destined to be a little incestuous as well.
Nico just smirks and takes his hand.
.
It starts because Nico starts coming home more exhausted and wrung out than usual, the smudges beneath his eyes so dark that it almost looks like he got socked in the eyes. Percy watches him stoop, face lit up by the bare bulb of the refrigerator as he roots around through all the probably expired lunch meat. Eventually he emerges, kind of victorious, with a truly sad looking carrot.
He takes a bite of it, making a face as he turns around.
Percy raises an eyebrow at him when he spits the mouthful of produce into the kitchen sink, tossing the rest of the carrot with it.
“We really need to go grocery shopping,” Nico says, dropping onto the couch next to him like a sack of bones. He bounces, ungracefully, and lands partially on Percy’s ankle.
“Probably,” Percy says, tossing Nico’s 3DS onto the stand next to him and extracting his ankle from beneath a stubbornly bony ass. There’s only so much Monster Hunter he can take in one day without feeling like he's still stubbornly rooted in reality, and apparently he’s found his limit. Besides, cuddling with Nico is nice, even if he is a bony little menace who complains a lot, like he doesn’t love Percy wrapped around him.
“What’s got you so blue?” Percy asks once his chin’s comfortably nestled in the cradle of Nico’s collarbone. Nico shrugs, snatching up the remote and flipping on the tv. He switches between channels for a bit before he finally settles on one of those new, weird acid-trip cartoons that are so popular nowadays.
“It’s nothing,” he sighs, tossing the remote down next to the 3DS. He turns his face up, expectant, towards Percy. “Now kiss me.”
Percy does, because he can never resist Nico’s lips when they’re quite so close, and of course the kiss evolves into something more-Nico crawling into his lap, all pointy angles and quick hands as he hitches his hips down into Percy’s-and okay, yeah, so this is apparently how the afternoon’s going to go.
He doesn’t quite forget his question-it’s hard to forget when Nico’s so close, when Percy can map the stretch of skin and bones with his hands-count ribs that he hadn’t been able to count a week ago.
He does shrug it aside though, because sex is awesome and also, he’s twenty-four years old, which is practically still a teenager. Besides, Nico will tell him when he’s ready.
.
It gets worse.
The day that Nico blacks out after attempting to raise a single skeleton-leaving Percy to fend off the relentless hydra alone-he starts getting concerned.
.
“It’s just,” Nico starts, face lit up blue by whatever scene they’ve left paused. His lip is trembling a little and if Percy wanted, he could skate his fingers along the line of a dangerously sharp cheekbone. Nico sighs, dropping his head onto Percy’s shoulder.
“It’s my dad,” he says, and Percy stops for a second, because that wasn’t really what he was expecting.
“What about him?” Percy asks a moment later, recovering from his shock as Nico glares over his shoulder at him. “I mean, I didn’t know you’d heard from him since-”
Since you guys had that weird falling out that you still won’t tell me about.
He bites down on his lip, hard, and doesn’t finish the sentence.
“He’s just being difficult,” Nico sighs, tracing patterns through Percy’s arm hair.
They’ve had this apartment for going on three years, and Nico’s been living with him for at least two of them. Officially he’s only been on the lease for one, but the point is, that in all that time, Nico’s never really brought up the subject of Hades.
“Define difficult,” Percy presses, because with Hades that could mean anything from he’s being a weenie to he’s about to start the next world war.
Nico huffs an annoyed breath into the air between them. “Look, it’s nothing, okay, I can handle it.”
“Dude,” Percy says. “You passed out trying to raise one itty bitty skeleton. You’re starting to look like a corpse yourself.”
You’re scaring me, he doesn’t say.
“He wants to meet you, all right?”
Percy stares at him, blinking. “Wait, what?”
.
He’s pretty sure he’s already met Hades-it isn’t something he can easily forget-and he’d told Nico as much, watching his face fall a little.
“I know, I know, you guys met a couple times,” he says, and Percy laughs shrilly, ever so slightly hysterical.
“The last time I met him I was fifteen years old and you were selling me into a lifetime of slavery.”
“He would have let you go, eventually,” Nico protests. He looks shifty. “And it wasn’t slavery, he would have just left you in that cell to rot.”
“That’s really not much better Nico. That might actually be a little worse, I don’t know, at least I would have gotten exercise as a slave.”
Nico makes a frustrated sound, crumpling back into the couch and tugging at his hair. “This is why I didn’t want to tell you,” he groans, slanting an irritated look over at Percy, who can’t seem to get his legs to stop pacing. “I knew you would freak out.”
“I’m not freaking out,” Percy argues. The television is still paused on an unflattering angle of the inside of Selma Blair’s nose. He’s tempted unpause it, just to make the image go away.
“You’re totally freaking out.”
Okay, maybe he’s freaking out a little bit, but he’s got every right to. Hades isn’t exactly his biggest fan and…
“Wait, does he know we’re dating?”
Nico stares at him, a bit blankly. Percy can’t tell if it’s the kind of look that means he’s being stupid or if Nico’s just a hundred and ten percent done with his shit. Considering his track record, it’s probably both.
“Yeah, he knows,” is all Nico says, but there’s something about the twist of his lips that makes Percy think of that night a couple years ago that Nico had come home bleeding and bruised. He’d shrugged it off then, something about never taking the subway again, and a day later Percy had found out about the fight he’d had with his dad.
“It was nothing,” he’d said. “My dad’s just a dick.”
“We’re half-bloods, dude,” Percy had replied, appalled. “All of our parents are dicks. But I don’t come home bleeding after a chat with my dad.”
“Just drop it, Percy,” Nico sighed, eyes like chips of black ice, and reluctantly, Percy had.
“Wait a second,” Percy hisses. “That was what that fight was about, wasn’t it?”
Nico flinches, like he’s been smacked.
“Just drop it, Percy,” he sighs, and the way his voice syncs up perfectly with the one from Percy’s memory makes an eerie sense of deja-vu catch and snag on the corner of his brain.
“No can do,” he chirps, dropping back down onto the couch like all of his strings have been cut. Guilt is an ugly, black thing curling in his gut. He regrets not pressing the matter then, but he’d thought Nico needed space. Apparently he was wrong.
He doesn’t know what to say. His dad, thus far, hasn’t figured out that he’s dating the kid who dipped him in the River Styx when he was fifteen years old, and he wants to keep it that way. He’s proud of Nico, he is. His mom knew about Nico within a week, even though that was mostly because at eighteen and fifteen, neither of them were very subtle. It’s different, his mom and Paul knowing, because they’ve always been fond of Nico. There isn’t a thousand year rivalry involved with either of them, for one.
He sighs, burying his nose in Nico’s neck and inhaling the smell of him. Nico used to think it was weird, but now he just huffs a half-amused breath and leans into the touch. Percy thinks about what his dad would do if he found out, wonders if hurricane season would come early or if there would only be a couple minor tropical storms. He thinks of Hades and his weighty, judgemental stare, and knows what he has to do. It’s probably better if Nico is the one to say it though.
“So, what do I have to do?”
.
“This was a terrible idea,” Percy tells Nico, still brushing graveyard soil from his hair. Nico just gives him this look, and replies-
.
The underworld is about the same as it was the last time Percy saw it. There’s an opportunity for a joke there, probably, and he remembers watching Hercules with his mom when he was little-James Wood’s voice rapid fire and sarcastic as Hades shrugged at Zeus and quipped, You know, a little dark, a little gloomy. And, as always, hey, full of dead people. What are you gonna do?
They didn’t actually go through the back entrance this time. Instead, Nico had pulled him close, until they were flush against each other, tapped a finger up against his lips and said, “Don’t tell my dad I can do this.”
He’ll probably never forget the feeling of sinking through grave soil, drowning on earth the way he could never drown in water, but Nico’s fingers against his lips keeps him grounded through the shadows.
“This is where you found Hazel,” he remarks, blinking his eyes open and taking in the endless stretch of long, brown grass. Nico frowns, glancing around like he’s just noticed where they are.
“Shit, missed it,” he hisses.
Percy cocks an eyebrow at him. “Where were you aiming for?”
“My room,” Nico deadpans, unphased when the spirit of a young girl walks right through him. He’s probably used to it.
“I kind of forgot you had a room here,” Percy snorts, kicking at the blade of grass tickling his ankle.
“Yeah, well, I haven’t lived there in a while. C’mon, we aren’t too far from dad’s place.”
“Romantic walk around the underworld, that’s totally what I wanted to do with my day,” Percy teases as Nico grabs his hand, pulling him through the grass. It feels like walking through molasses, but Nico shows no signs of even feeling it.
.
The throne room’s gotten bigger since the last time he was here. He would have thought it would have felt smaller, considering that he was bigger, but who knows with other planes of existence.
Hades throne is the same though, just as morbid as it was the last time he saw it. It looks weird to have a throne of grinning skulls and chipped femurs right next to one made of daisies, but Persephone and Hades were kind of an odd couple anyway.
“Well, well, well, Percy Jackson,” Hades breathes, leaning forward and steepling his fingers together. He looks like every cliche villain that Percy has ever seen and for one heart stopping moment, he’s overcome with an urge to giggle.
Nico steps on his foot.
“Sir,” he coughs, finally. He doesn’t bow, though he’s briefly tempted to curtsy. He turns to Persephone, who’s watching them with interest. He does dip a slight bow to her, because credit where credit’s due, her and her mother did kind of save his ass that one time. “M’aam.”
Apparently, Hades isn’t too pleased about it, because his eyes are narrowed.
“It’s lovely to meet you again, Percy Jackson. You’re looking more and more like my brother by the day.”
The way he says it, it’s obvious that it isn’t a compliment. “Thanks,” Percy says, grinning. “Though I’m pretty sure I’ve got my mom’s jaw. Good thing, that.”
A muscle in Hades’ jaw tics violently.
He can hear Nico’s strained breathing beside him, little uneasy gasps like he’s a few steps away from falling straight into a panic attack. Guilt curdles like sour milk at the back of his throat, because this was what was making Nico so uneasy-this meeting-his boyfriend and his dad.
Percy sighs and mentally tugs on his big boy shorts, sweeping into a low bow.
“Sorry, sir. Old habits die hard, as I’m sure you know. It’s nice to see you’re doing well.”
When he straightens back up, the first thing he really notices is the silence. He finds three people staring at him with varying degrees of disbelief. Nico’s mouth is actually hanging open a little, so Percy reaches over and uses one finger to push it closed. It’s hard not to hipcheck him in front of his dad, it really is.
Persephone’s the one who clears her throat and breaks the silence.
“We’ve had a room readied for you, Percy, though I highly doubt you will be using it. Nico, if you would like to show him around, be our guest. Dinner’s at eight.”
The dismissal is clear in her voice.
They go.
.
“I really did forget you had a room here,” he says again, glancing around. It’s big-bigger than the room they share at the apartment. It’s also very… dark. All the furnishings have been done in black, the only color the bright yellow of a bundle of dandelions on the nightstand.
He doesn’t need to see Nico’s glower to know that Persephone isn’t just trying to cheer up the room.
Nico shrugs at him, flopping back onto the bed. The sheets ripple like an oil slick and for a moment, it looks like Nico is drowning in darkness. Then Nico smiles at him-this lopsided, affectionate thing that has Percy grinning back before he even realizes the corners of his mouth are twitching.
“Come here,” Nico whispers, voice half sigh, half purr. Percy lets himself get tugged down after him-lets Nico roll them over until their legs are fitted together like puzzle pieces. Nico grins down at him, shadows slanted across his face like they’re sluiced on, and kisses Percy slow and sweet. It’s a long kiss, making him feel like a teenager again. He’d been eighteen when him and Nico started their fumbling attempt at a romance, long enough after him and Annabeth had broken up that necking up against walls felt brand new all over again.
Nico rolls his hips slowly against his, like a question, lashes fluttering. Percy sucks in a sharp breath.
He laughs nervously, eyes flicking to and from the door. “You really wanna be doing this here?” he asks shakily, voice going choppy when Nico bites down on the curve of his jaw. He sucks a bruise into the skin there, and Percy squirms beneath him, dick hard and straining against his jeans.
“Why not?” Nico counters, going for Percy’s zipper and slipping a hand inside his pants. “We’ve done it at your mom’s house before.”
His breathing stutters, hips canting up into Nico’s touch of their own accord. He’s kissing a line down Percy’s chest, rucking his shirt up so he can lick at the flat planes of Percy’s stomach-grinning at him, eyes glinting in the dark. His wrist is at a weird enough angle that it probably hurts when he rocks their hips together again, trapping Percy’s dick between denim-clad crotch and the palm of his hand.
“This is-fuck-so much different than that, Nico, and you know it.”
"I love making you curse," Nico mutters, chuckling darkly, and does something magical with his hand that makes Percy’s eyes go heavy-lidded, pupils dilating so quickly that he can feel the change. When he blinks, Nico’s sliding Percy’s pants and boxers down over his thighs.
“Why are you still wearing clothes,” he whines and makes grabby motions until Nico shucks his shirt over his head and dips down for another kiss.
“Technically we’re both still wearing clothes,” Nico replies, which is a travesty, but also true.
“We should fix that,” Percy gasps into his mouth, feeling Nico’s smirk tilt against his lips.
“I don’t suppose you have lube?” Nico asks a minute later, when they’re both comfortably naked and sliding against each other. Percy has to blink three times and still Nico’s hips with his palm before he can register the question.
“No!” he squeaks, horrified. “Sorry, but when you told me your dad wanted to meet me I didn’t think ‘oh hey, better grab lube and condoms.’”
Nico blinks at him, eyelashes dragging slowly against his cheeks-unimpressed-and shrugs. “Okay,” he says, and dips his hand into the shadows pooling between them. From his angle, it looks like Nico’s got a hand through Percy’s stomach. It makes him want to shift, see if the shadows will change direction, but a stern look from Nico keeps him still.
When he pulls his hand back out, there’s a very familiar jar of KY sitting in his palm-the same one that had been sitting innocuously on their nightstand when they left the apartment.
“No condoms?” he asks, craning his neck up like they’ll magically appear.
Nico rolls his eyes. “You’re the only person I’ve ever fucked and I know for damn sure that Annabeth was clean. It’s about time we stop wasting our money on them.”
Percy thinks about protesting, because that’s not the only reason to use condoms. For one, they aren’t as messy. Before he can say anything though, Nico leans in close and nips at his ear, whispers- “And besides, I want to sit at that dinner table tonight knowing that your come is still inside of me.”
It shouldn’t be sexy-it shouldn’t. The idea of jizz squelching around inside of him doesn’t sound very appealing to Percy, but the slow way Nico growls it into his ear, like it’s something he wants so desperately he’ll beg makes heat twist low in Percy’s guts-a bead of pre-come forming against the tip of his dick. Nico makes a pleased noise, bending down to lick it off.
“Okay, yeah, I’m totally down for that,” he pants and Nico shoots him a smug grin before sucking the entirety of Percy’s cock into his mouth, swallowing down every inch until it bumps up against the back of his throat.
Percy loves the way that Nico gives head. Sex with Annabeth had been great when they were together, in the way that first times always are-it was awkward and awesome, so good that it felt like the world was ending and so bad that Percy was sure it was. And Annabeth had been good at this too, but she was always so meticulous, going at it like she’d calculated every angle beforehand.
Nico’s sloppy and enthusiastic, slurping at Percy’s dick with wet, audible noises that make Percy squirm with a distant kind of embarrassment. Nico doesn’t give a shit whether it’s pretty or not, because it isn’t a show for him-it’s something he genuinely likes doing-something he gets off on. Nico likes the feel of Percy’s dick stretching his lips wide, Percy’s hands tugging on his hair. He likes it when Percy’s world goes a little hazy and he forgets himself, fucking Nico’s mouth the way he’d fuck his ass.
He’s told Percy so, because the first time that Percy surfaced out of that hazy fog and found Nico with bruised lips and come smeared on his chin, he’d been horrified and apologized until Nico jerked him close and whispered in that wrecked, cocksucker voice, “Sometimes, Percy, I like it rough.”
When Percy feels himself getting too close, he eases Nico off of him, whimpering at the sight of Nico’s swollen, wet lips-a line of spit connecting them. It snaps, and the greedy way Nico’s eying his wet dick makes him whine low in his throat.
A surge of want hits him then, and for a moment he’s about to propose a change of plans, because the image of Nico balls deep inside of him, long fingers curled in Percy’s hair, body stretched out over his, almost has him coming then and there. But no, that’s not what Nico wants this time. Not here. Maybe when they get home Percy will let Nico fuck him until he has to call in sick the next day, but right now this is about Nico.
“You want me to do it?” he asks when Nico twists upright, a finger buried to the knuckle inside himself. The grin Nico sends him in response is all heat, spreading his legs wider in invitation so there’s room for Percy between them-room for Percy to slip a finger in next to Nico’s.
“You’re certainly welcome to help,” Nico gasps, rocking down onto their fingers eagerly. Percy slips another finger in alongside the first two and thinks that for anyone else-hell, for him-this would be too much, too fast, but Nico just keens, cock twitching against his belly.
“Hmm,” Percy breathes, leaning in to lick the sweat from Nico’s collarbone-twisting his fingers so Nico whimpers.
“Okay, okay,” Nico pants, jerking his own finger out and tugging Percy’s free in the same movement. “I’m good, just fuck me now.”
“Say please,” Percy purrs, trailing his wet knuckles along the curve of Nico’s ass, just to hear the ragged way Nico’s voice catches on the word “please.”
He dithers around, trying to figure out exactly what position he wants him in, and apparently it’s taking too long because Nico hisses, tongue between his teeth, and yanks Percy back down, rolling him so he’s on his back. Percy blinks and then Nico’s climbing on top of him, taking hold of Percy’s cock and rubbing it wetly between his cheeks before sinking back onto it, too slow.
Nico likes teasing himself like this-while Percy’s all about just jumping straight into things, Nico likes to go slow. He likes feeling the burn of the stretch, likes holding himself open with just the tip of Percy’s dick inside of him-sliding down so slow that by the time he’s bottomed out Percy is aching with the need to move.
“Fuck,” he murmurs, hips twitching with the need to thrust up into that heat. Nico grins down at him when he’s finally taken Percy in all the way, then pulls up so quickly that Percy almost pops out. Then he’s sliding back down again, teeth clamped tight to his lower lip, just as slow. It’s worth it to see the way that Nico flushes all the way down to his chest, body practically singing with pleasure.
“Move, move, move, oh god, please,” he whimpers and Nico laughs, loud and bright, his teeth a flash of white in the dark.
“I’m only part god,” he purrs, and Percy groans, because it’s not the first time he’s heard the joke, and it’s still not funny.
It doesn’t take long for Nico to get really into it-it never does. He’s patient up until he really isn’t, and then he starts getting enthusiastic. He hadn’t been very good at it right off the bat, but hell, no one’s good at sex at the start. Nico had been a very endearing virgin, shyness that would turn snappy the moment Percy said something wrong, biting back moans and muffling curses with pillows. Somewhere along the way, he’d turned into an intense lover. Not quite overnight, but eventually, Nico had decided that he really liked sex and that he might as well enjoy it as loudly as possible.
It got them in trouble a few times back at Percy’s mom’s house, the most memorable of which was the time that Nico had shadow-hopped his way into the hallway bathroom while Percy was taking a shower, backed himself up against the wall and made Percy fuck him until he wailed. Paul hadn’t been too happy when he’d burst in, expecting Percy to be getting chewed on by some monster, and gotten an up close and personal view of Nico’s asshole stretched around Percy’s dick.
Percy had moved out shortly after, not because they’d kicked him out, but because of how mortifying it was when Paul couldn’t stop blushing around both of them.
This time is no different; Percy briefly hopes that Hades’ room is far enough away that he can’t hear his son yelling Percy’s name. He doesn’t give a shit, because Nico’s rolling his hips with abandon, using Percy’s dick like it’s a goddamn free-for-all rodeo. He just clutches tight to Nico’s narrow hips and tries to survive the ride.
Percy winces at how loud Nico shouts when he comes, thinking that there’s no possible way that Hades didn’t hear that. Hopefully he isn’t going to get his soul ripped out before he comes. Nico slumps for a moment, catching his breath, and Percy takes the time to roll them over until Nico’s sprawled boneless beneath him against the sheets.
Percy makes himself hold still, Nico’s come drying against his chest, and waits until Nico lets out a whine and tries to rock back onto him. Only then does he resume fucking him, pounding into him hard and fast, just the way Nico likes to be fucked right after coming.
“Mm, Percy,” Nico murmurs into his ear, his voice raspy and grating in all the right ways, and that’s it-that’s enough to send Percy over the edge.
He’s much quieter than Nico, grinding his hips into him as the last few jolts of pleasure go down his spine.
“Damn,” Nico whispers into his shoulder. Percy can feel the outline of his lazy grin pressed into his skin. He laughs, shakily, and pulls out slowly, drawing shaky groans out of both of them. He flops over onto his back, ungracefully, and ponders the ceiling. He wonders if there’s a working shower here, or if they’re going to have to go to dinner reeking of sex. Maybe that was the point of it.
Curiously, he reaches over, slipping his thumb between Nico’s legs and lazily skating it around the rim of his hole. Nico shifts, groaning when Percy’s finger sinks into him, just a little-enough to feel how slick he is inside.
“Stop that,” he rasps, whacking Percy’s shoulder.
Percy laughs at him.
“So, how exactly do we know it’s eight?” he asks after a minute, and Nico snorts. Time passes differently in the underworld, same as it does in Olympus, and Percy’s pretty sure he’s never seen an actual clock. The dead have all of eternity, what use do they have with time?
“They’ll send for us when dinner’s ready,” he mutters. Then, like an afterthought- “I packed us our own dinner by the way. Don’t let dad talk you into eating anything they serve.”
It takes him a second to work his way around that one, and when he does, he feels ridiculously stupid. Annabeth would have smacked him.
He sighs and wriggles closer. Nico throws an arm around his hips, drooling a little on Percy’s shoulder.
He doesn’t bother wiping it away.
.
“So,” Persephone smirks at them later. “Did Nico take you on the tour at all or did you two spend all your time in bed?”
Hades is blushing, just a little, but mostly he looks angry.
Nico shifts pointedly next to him and takes a bite of his sandwich. With his mouth full of pastrami he smirks back and says, “We didn’t spend all our time in bed. We spent some of it in the shower too.”
Percy chokes on a blueberry.
Hades just looks murderous.
.
Nico laughs for an hour when they get back home. Percy scowls at him.
“You think it’s funny now,” he remarks. “Just wait until you get to ‘meet’ my dad.”