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∞ The Boundaries You Leave Behind • Percy/Nico
The Boundaries You Leave Behind (and Where We're Bound to Go)
Percy/Nico
• with special guest appearances by Annabeth, Reyna, Butch, and Clovis.
• for mythic100, prompt 066• Slavery
• not actually slavery. D/s, bondage, light pain play, some discussion of heavier stuff.
• 4,600 words
• rated R
Was there any good way to tell your boyfriend that you might really like it if he tied you up and spanked you til you screamed?
No, no there was not. And that was why Nico said nothing, though all the gods knew he couldn't help going a little bit crazy every time Percy used that inhuman strength to hold him down, to manhandle him a little. Not much, because Percy was the sort of eternally cautious lover who apologized for everything, but a little. Every now and then. When Nico had been away so long that they were mad for each other; or when Percy was high on adrenaline from fighting - when Percy wasn't quite so cautious, and Nico unafraid to beg for more, harder, please, yes. The rest of the time, he was way too terrified of losing him, now that he had him, so he kept his mouth shut and tried to swallow down the whimpers every time Percy's fingers pressed him just a little too hard.
•
Percy noticed.
He'd thought, initially, that he was hurting him - that was what started him apologizing for every little thing, and Nico had scowled and said "It's fine" in a tone of voice that brooked no argument. But it wasn't fine, not really. And Percy began to realize that it was, for Nico, better than fine.
That was weird, right? Wait, no. Not weird. Just different. Percy was a firm believer that the only really weird things out there had like, arms and legs all over and teeth and stuff and extra eyes, so what two people who loved each other got up to in the bedroom couldn't possibly be weird. But it was weird in that it was new to him, just like being queer was new and still kind of weird, and even being a demigod. That was still, sometimes, incredibly weird.
He did what he always did whenever he encountered something he didn't understand. He went to Annabeth.
He climbed up in bed with her as rain sheeted down outside her little house in New Athens, the tiny little Grecian demigod commune. She'd designed most of it; a steadily growing cluster of houses, shops, and public buildings - modeled after New Rome but taking on its own personality, of course. The Greeks and Romans were very different. Percy couldn't be happier that they were friends, now - but he was just as happier to have a truly Greek place to call 'home'.
"So I think, maybe, Nico kind of likes it when I'm rough with him." That was how he started the conversation. Conversations with Annabeth didn't need small talk or a gentle touch - it was one of the things he loved, really truly loved, about her. There were a whole lot of those, though. More, maybe, now that they weren't dating any longer - because when you're dating, you have to keep secrets sometimes, you have to keep a little of yourself. He'd never wanted that with Annabeth, and the feeling was mutual. They weren't exactly friends, no - they were closer than that, and Percy had yet to find a name for it.
"Oh, that's a surprise." Yep. Definitely his Wise Girl. He chuckled, she chuckled, and they snuggled in together, Annabeth's hands lazily turning the page of her book.
"But like - what do I do about it?" The words were swimming in front of his face. It had been a long time since Percy had read anything but Greek.
"Well, what do you want to do?" Practical Annabeth. She was smiling something warm under her gold curls, frizzy from the rain, and he thought about it. Funny, that it hadn't really occurred to him to think in terms of what he wanted.
Percy chose his words carefully. "I think... I like making him happy. It sounds kind of lame, but it's true. I love the look on his face when his eyes get all big and dark and hot and I know there's nothing else in the world for him but me."
Annabeth turned another page, humming. "There isn't ever, you know. It's always about you, for him."
"Yeah, but I. I guess. Maybe what I'm saying is, that is the sort of dynamic we work with and it feels right to do that in bed, too? I don't know, man, this is totally out of my depth."
His Wise Girl chuckled and rubbed at his messy black hair. "You're always out of your depth, Seaweed Brain."
"Knockitoff."
"No, never!" She stuck out her tongue at him, and they both laughed, the tension dispelling instantly. But Annabeth wasn't done. "...The thing about you, Percy, is that - hmm. How do I put it." She tapped long fingers on the spine of her book. "You're made for depth. That's what you do. You're always getting thrown in the deep end and unlike anyone else, you find your footing and come out on top."
Percy's nose wrinkled. "That is way too many mixed metaphors." But, he actually did get it, so. Maybe she had a point.
"I'm just saying, you've got this look like you're standing on a cliff edge and you don't know what you're jumping into - and we both know where this is bound to go."
He sighed. He should know by now, really - Annabeth was always right. "Yeah, okay. I'm in. Tell me everything."
•
As it turned out, Annabeth didn't know all much - but, unsurprisingly, she knew who did. Which was how Percy came to be passing through the Via Graeca, an underground magical road of some sort that connected New Athens to New Rome. More of Annabeth's genius. It had something to do with the collapsed Labyrinth, but really, Percy couldn't bring himself to care about the details - it was the first time he'd needed it. Usually, Nico would just drag him along through the shadows.
Reyna had a place of her own in New Rome now. Though, being that she was the primary liason to Camp Half-Blood and New Athens, he saw way more of her back home than in her own city. They were good friends, now. The best of them. He wondered if that was another gay thing - having a whole lot of female friends. And then he thought that every one of those female friends would punch him for thinking it.
"Percy!" Reyna's face lit up in a wide grin. "Annabeth told me you were on your way. Having some boy problems?" Her eyes glittered with mischief, and Percy was suddenly and viscerally terrified.
"Uh, no, not problems, really..." She didn't seem inclined to let him inside.
"No, true, kink is never a problem." Reyna still had that predator's smirk on her face, and Percy gulped hard. "Babe!" she called over her shoulder. "Taking Percy out to see Butch! Be good." That last bit sounded like more than a tease - it sounded like an order.
He could hear a distracted probably-male voice from an upstairsish location. "Yes, sir!" He didn't question it. Reyna was, and always would be, a leader. Percy himself had had the urge to call her sir a few times now and then.
"Right, let's go. Before he realized what he just agreed to." Reyna winked. He didn't get it. "Oh, look at your face. So precious. Come. We'll sit down and have lunch and I'll tell you all about BDSM."
•
He'd heard the term before. Sort of. Vaguely. What came to mind was isn't that whipping and stuff? but, considering what he'd come here to ask, he really shouldn't judge.
Reyna gave him another long once over. Then she started from the very beginning.
"Look, the BDSM lifestyle - that's what it's called, the lifestyle - the first thing is that it's different for everyone. Everyone. The same way that every couple does things differently, you know? So just because you like to do x y and z, don't mean you're required to like doing a b and c. Or you could just like x and a. Or all of them. It's up to you and your partner, okay?"
He nodded, sipping at a pink lemonade. That just sounded like common sense. "What's BDSM stand for, anyway?"
She chuckled. "Bondage, dominance, sadism and masochism. Or sometimes the S is for submission - dominance and submission. Personally I like that part the best. I'm no sadist, even though my boy's a happy little pain slut on days that end in Y."
Percy choked on his straw. "Hang on, what?" Where had this conversation gone off the rails without him? Or. Maybe he was just doubly shocked that Reyna had a boy she hadn't told him about, as well as having just used the word 'slut' in, like. Conversation. Just, what.
Reyna was laughing at him. Damnit. "I mean it in the best of ways, Perce. He gets off on it. He likes that the pain gives him focus, and more importantly, discipline. O and I have rules. Or, it's more like, I have rules for him that he follows or he gets punished."
Yeah, no, Percy was still lost. Wait. Hang on. O...
"Octavian? You're fucking Octavian?!"
Her eyes did that sparkly happy thing again, which he was really beginning to dread. "Ooh, you got it right! See, most people, when they find out, they're all - he's fucking you? No, no, dear, I'm fucking him. It's a fine distinction, yes, but a very important one, I think." Reyna had ordered a ginger ale; she took a break to drink from it, her eyes still laughing.
"That isn't what I meant," Percy said. It said something about him, maybe, that he didn't question that distinction at all, and he knew what she meant. If anyone were to ask if Nico was fucking him, that would get a bit of a laugh, too. "It's - gods. Octavian, really?"
Reyna snorted. "I'd say it's been a long time since you've seen him, but no, he's still as vile as ever. But only if he hasn't gotten whipped and fucked into submission lately. I don't let him be a bad person, and he can be really very sweet when the alternative is a cock cage for the rest of the week."
Percy stared. Stared. On one hand, there were a whole bunch of terms in there that he couldn't even wrap his head around but, on the other hand? Anything that could make Octavian even the slightest bit agreeable was, quite frankly, magical.
"...Okay. Seriously. Tell me everything. I'm hooked."
•
Reyna talked all through lunch, then all the way down the street as they headed further into town. She told him about safewords and subspace. She told him about different kinds of pain, about punishment versus reward, about how it didn't have to be a lifestyle but sometimes it had to be. They paused at the door to a shop liberally slathered in rainbows, and Percy raised an eyebrow.
"Has to be? How's that?"
Reyna shoved at him, pushing him through the door. "Well, think about it. Octavian, for example. He needs order in his life, and he's too stubborn and nasty to admit it, so I make sure he gets it. It isn't easy, but... it's worth it, knowing I can make someone happy."
Percy stared at her. She was right, now that he thought - and, well. That was what it was all about, right? Making someone happy. Reyna was right. It was worth it.
"Hey, Butchie. Look who I brought to see you."
Percy finally looked around - and then his jaw may or may not have hit the floor. Not, actually, because he was surrounded by leather and dildos and things that looked like torture devices and probably were - but because the man behind the counter was familiar. Oh. That Butch.
The man grinned ear to ear. "Hey, Percy! It's been a while. How are you and Annabeth?"
"Not," he said, automatically, then shook himself and rephrased. It had been way too long since someone had asked him about her like that. "I mean, we broke up ages ago. I'm with Nico now."
"Really?" Butch's face lit up even brighter. "Dude. You need to come visit more. I mean it. Rey, make him come."
Reyna chuckled and patted Percy on the shoulder. "Butch, you know I only do that for O."
He paused a second. Then laughed. Hearty, full and happy, and Percy couldn't help but smile. He dimly remembered now that Butch had taken off for New Rome when it had become available - something about more clients for a business. Percy could see why, now.
There was a shuffling sound and loud cracked yawn from a back room, then another familiar face appeared - Clovis. Percy wasn't actually all that surprised when the man wandered over to Butch, draped up against him for a sloppy but sweet kiss, then fell into an armchair behind the cash register and sank into another nap. The only thing surprising was that Clovis seemed to be wearing a collar - but it was more surprising that it didn't surprise him. Or something. Nothing seemed surprising anymore today.
"So," Reyna began, leaning up against the glass counter. "Percy says Nico's got the makings of a pretty, needy sub, and he wants to get kitted up."
Percy sputtered. "I did not!" Confused and new to this he may be - pushover, he was not.
Butch just chuckled. "Oh, there's a surprise. Have you been overloading his brain with too much information?"
"Yep," Reyna said, and damn proud of it she seemed, too. Percy made a rude gesture - which, for some reason, made Butch laugh even louder.
"Oh, I can see it, I can see it. Clo? Wake up, love, we've got customers."
Clovis snapped his eyes open and peered up at Butch, the vacant dreamy look replaced by a bright smile. "I'm up, Sir."
"Good boy." Butch ruffled his hair, Clovis sank into the caress - and that. That. That was what he wanted, to see Nico go all pliant and beautiful and needy. Oh, fuck. Yep. He was doing this, this was happening. Reyna was right. Again. Women. Go figure.
"Okay," Percy said, stepping up to the plate. He was doing this, so he was going to own it. "Tell me what I'm going to need and show me how to use it."
•
Percy wasn't home when Nico got there, which wasn't all that weird, just - he wasn't supposed to be working today, and that morning, Percy had been completely content to lay around the house like a boneless slug. Still. Not too weird. It wouldn't be the first time Percy had taken the words 'day off' to mean 'go hang out around the Camp anyway and get on everyone's nerves'. Nico liked working for Charon much better. Reaping was hard work, but weirdly? Fun.
And it was always nice to have a home to come to.
Nico wriggled out of his chucks and shrugged off his signature jacket. He'd finally grown into it - vertically, at least. He'd never quite managed to fill out properly, but hey. Son of Hades. Stick skinny was probably part of the deal.
Sometimes he wondered, though, whether Bianca would've been skinny, too, or if she'd've taken after Maria and gotten all curvy and mature. He didn't know which one he would've preferred.
Mostly, it was the not knowing that got to him.
He was on the couch by then, brooding away, so he didn't even hear the door open and the gentle sounds of Percy shucking his own shoes and coat and shopping. He didn't know his lover was home at all until warm, callused hands stroked along his jawline from behind, and he slid right into it, sighing.
Did anyone ever really stop mourning?
Those hands pulled his chin up, and he noticed there was something... different about them. A new kind of pressure - more solid, more forceful, but utterly controlled and gentle still. It sent a low wave of heat seeping through him, his heart doing a bit of a jump in his chest as he thought about those hands, about what that little edge of force could possibly mean.
"Nico. Look at me."
That, too, had a thread of command in it, and Nico was twisting around to look up before he'd even really registered that he was going to. That little wave because a fierce, sharp rush when he saw the look in Percy's eyes - hot and hard, like steel. Oh, fuck. What the fuck. What.
"You were thinking."
He didn't need to say what Nico was thinking about; what was Nico ever thinking about? He had exactly three obsessions in his life; they were Percy, Bianca, and Mythomagic. It was pretty easy to tell which one had capsized him this time.
He nodded, not denying it. He was much more interested in why Percy was looking at him like that - no, fuck it, he didn't care why, he just desperately needed it not to stop.
"No more thinking."
Percy leaned down as if to kiss him, those hands still holding his chin quite firmly in place, but at the last second, he bit instead of kissed. Right at the edge of Nico's lip. Fuck.
"Yeah," he breathed, agreeing instantly with this alternative.
"Sir."
Nico blinked. "Huh?"
Percy was still looking at him. Deep. Dark. Hard. Controlled. "Yes, Sir."
Oh.
Oh, fuck.
His cock went straight from interested to aching in less than a second. His voice, when he finally found it, was shaking. "Yes, Sir."
Oh, fuck. That felt. So good. So right. Jesus fucking tapdancing Christ. Wait.
"...Percy. What the fuck."
He hit him. Actually hit him. Not hard or anything, certainly not anywhere near as hard as they punched each other on a daily basis for no reason at all, but it did sting - and his cock fucking jumped. Percy looked... expectant.
"What the fuck... Sir?"
And with that, the scene broke. Percy started laughing and Nico did too, but he felt like he was fucking spinning out of control and if this was all some sort of joke - "Percy. Seriously. What the fuck."
Percy cupped his face in his hands again, sweetly this time. "Nico. Seriously. I talked to Annabeth."
Fuck. No good ever came of those words. Ever. His throat went bone-dry. "Y-yeah?"
"And she told me to go talk to Reyna." Percy's thumbs began stroking his cheeks, the motion repetitive and lulling. "Reyna told me way more than I ever wanted to know about her sex life."
"Uh huh." Where was this even going? It didn't matter, though, as long as Percy kept touching him like that.
"...I noticed how much you like it when I hold you down," Percy murmured, and Nico would've jumped - his lips were right next to his ear, suddenly, but that stroking on his cheeks kept him boneless and relaxed. Stroke, stroke, stroke. "And I thought we might make it a little more official."
Oh. Yeah. Holding him down. Yeah.
Then Nico really did jump - because Percy was wrapping thick, heavy leather cuffs around his wrists. His heart slammed against his ribcage, but his cock responded just as wildly, damn near throbbing in his pants. "F-"
"Nico." Percy had steel in his voice again and Nico shuddered, hard. "Safeword?"
It was a test, and Nico knew it. Percy was asking him if he knew what was going on, and honestly, it worked in reverse, too - just hearing that from Percy's mouth made him relax everywhere, and the explanation slotted into his head belatedly. Annabeth had told him to go see Reyna and Percy was mentioning safewords, which meant he'd been curious enough to truly want to know, and Annabeth had pointed him in the right direction.
Nico licked his lips, staring up at his lover with naked adoration.
"Bianca," he whispered, unable to think of any other word that he would remember at the very edge.
But Percy shook his head. "No, c'mon. She's your sister, not your lifeline. Something else. Something for us."
There was so much in those sentences. Nico felt more than a little weak, and he just leaned into Percy's hands and the cuffs and the couch. She is your sister, Percy had said. Not your lifeline - like she was better than that. And something for us - because Percy understood that she was Nico's and no one else's, and it made him shake. He loved this man. Really, he really really did.
"Octopus," he said, picking something completely at random. Percy nodded.
"Right," he muttered, and for a second, they just stared at each other - nervous, excited, helpless, adoring. One last moment as themselves.
But then, Percy didn't snap into his role like Nico had expected. Instead he leaned in, chuckled softly - then bit, right at the juncture of Nico's neck and jaw.
His body jerked and he hissed out, "Fuck!" but before he could squirm away Percy had grabbed his cuffs, hooked them together, and snapped on a chain that he quickly anchored under the couch. Nico snarled and tugged at them, hard - but it held, and when Percy stepped back it was with a wicked playful grin. He was still Percy. Nico was still Nico. And they were doing this. Yeah.
Nico could hear the way his blood was pounding in his ears.
"Percy," he said, his voice sounding strained and scared to his own ears. "I don't - Percy -"
He ignored him, going instead to pick up a bag and toss it over Nico's shoulder onto the coffee table. Nico tried to crane around and look - but Percy got a hand in his hair, turned his head back around and pressed it forward. Not shoving, no, but it had that underlying force that made the air whoosh out of Nico's lungs. Fuck. Fuck. He was shaking. Visibly.
"Calm down," Percy murmured in his ear, as he pushed Nico's shirt up and stroked his fingers up the line of Nico's bony spine. "I love you. You know that, right? I love you. You're beautiful."
He didn't relax all the way, but that helped. Some. The reality of getting what you want was unnerving, sometimes, and he knew he wanted it - gods, he'd thought about it more than was probably healthy - but it was. Fuck. Scary.
Good scary, though.
Goddamnit, he was going to freak out any second now.
There was a light swat on his ass and Nico's hips jerked, a strangled gasp wrenching from his lips.
"I thought I said no thinking?"
Fuck. How the fuck could he do that? He still sounded in every way like Persexy Jackson, the same guy who'd left soapy handprints all over his shirt this morning, the same guy who laughed and swore at the TV when he was losing in Mario Kart, the same guy who made butt jokes at every opportunity, for crying out loud. Same Percy. And it was that exact same percy who was ordering him, in that calm and steady Percy way, not to think. Ordering.
Right, so. The next move was his. He just didn't fucking know if he could still be himself while he was being a sub.
Another swat. He jumped again, the cuffs rattling, and an unexpected snarl pushed out of him. "Asshole!"
"That's Sir Asshole to you, cheeky."
Nico laughed. He couldn't help it. It was strangled and hysterical, but he couldn't help it, Percy was -
Percy was opening his lips up over the top knob of his spine, wet heat pulling at the skin. Nico moaned.
".... Sir," he whispered.
He felt it, the way Percy's entire body shook against him, and that - that was good. That was so good, knowing he wasn't the only person who was more than a little okay with this. He reminded himself that it was Percy who'd gone out of his way to learn this shit; Percy who had bought the cuffs and chained him up. If he didn't want this, he wouldn't fucking be here. The end.
"Sir?" Nico asked, leaning his head to the side so he could catch Percy's face out of the corner of his eye.
"Yeah?" Percy was still kissing at his spine.
"Mmh- Can I. Can I roll over, please, Sir? I want to see you." It sounded so fucking obscene. So fucking obscene. He loved every second of it.
Percy dug his teeth in for a moment, sucked up a mark right there where he'd been kissing. Nico groaned. He was no stranger to Percy leaving marks every-fucking-where on his tan skin - like he had to do double duty, since Nico couldn't retaliate. Nico bitched, but he loved it. Loved the pain of it - deep and sharp and cathartic, shocking - loved the aftermath, being covered with Percy's love and aching with it. So good.
He tapped at Nico's hip, urging him to turn. He did, awkwardly - ended up sprawled a little low on the couch, his arms twisted back behind his head. Percy gave him a long, critical look.
"Bed?"
"Yes, Sir." Nico grinned. Hey, if Percy was gonna call him cheeky, he'd better live up to the title, right?
Percy snickered and flicked Nico right on the nipple before reaching up to unhook the chain. He gasped, arching up into him, and before he could even take a breath Percy was grabbing his hips, hauling him quite literally up the stairs.
Oh, fuck. He was so goddamn happy.
•
Percy met Reyna for lunch at the same little bistro they'd gone to before. Percy got a lemonade, Reyna got a ginger ale. It would've been like deja vu, except Percy felt nothing but settled and sated and utterly, completely satisfied.
Reyna smirked like she knew exactly what he was thinking. "So," she drawled, "how's your boy?"
He smirked right back at her and countered. "How's yours?"
They had a good laugh at that, and the more Percy thought about it, the more Annabeth - as always - was right. He was always out of his depth, but only because he was made for it, made to cross boundaries that others wouldn't even consider trying. And when he got there, he forged on. So he would own this, be the best goddamn top he could be for his beautiful needy hilarious amazing boy, and from there, who knew? Even if he didn't know what he was getting into, he was, as Annabeth said, bound to go there.
Which was really fucking funny, all things considered.
Percy/Nico
• with special guest appearances by Annabeth, Reyna, Butch, and Clovis.
• for mythic100, prompt 066• Slavery
• not actually slavery. D/s, bondage, light pain play, some discussion of heavier stuff.
• 4,600 words
• rated R
Was there any good way to tell your boyfriend that you might really like it if he tied you up and spanked you til you screamed?
No, no there was not. And that was why Nico said nothing, though all the gods knew he couldn't help going a little bit crazy every time Percy used that inhuman strength to hold him down, to manhandle him a little. Not much, because Percy was the sort of eternally cautious lover who apologized for everything, but a little. Every now and then. When Nico had been away so long that they were mad for each other; or when Percy was high on adrenaline from fighting - when Percy wasn't quite so cautious, and Nico unafraid to beg for more, harder, please, yes. The rest of the time, he was way too terrified of losing him, now that he had him, so he kept his mouth shut and tried to swallow down the whimpers every time Percy's fingers pressed him just a little too hard.
•
Percy noticed.
He'd thought, initially, that he was hurting him - that was what started him apologizing for every little thing, and Nico had scowled and said "It's fine" in a tone of voice that brooked no argument. But it wasn't fine, not really. And Percy began to realize that it was, for Nico, better than fine.
That was weird, right? Wait, no. Not weird. Just different. Percy was a firm believer that the only really weird things out there had like, arms and legs all over and teeth and stuff and extra eyes, so what two people who loved each other got up to in the bedroom couldn't possibly be weird. But it was weird in that it was new to him, just like being queer was new and still kind of weird, and even being a demigod. That was still, sometimes, incredibly weird.
He did what he always did whenever he encountered something he didn't understand. He went to Annabeth.
He climbed up in bed with her as rain sheeted down outside her little house in New Athens, the tiny little Grecian demigod commune. She'd designed most of it; a steadily growing cluster of houses, shops, and public buildings - modeled after New Rome but taking on its own personality, of course. The Greeks and Romans were very different. Percy couldn't be happier that they were friends, now - but he was just as happier to have a truly Greek place to call 'home'.
"So I think, maybe, Nico kind of likes it when I'm rough with him." That was how he started the conversation. Conversations with Annabeth didn't need small talk or a gentle touch - it was one of the things he loved, really truly loved, about her. There were a whole lot of those, though. More, maybe, now that they weren't dating any longer - because when you're dating, you have to keep secrets sometimes, you have to keep a little of yourself. He'd never wanted that with Annabeth, and the feeling was mutual. They weren't exactly friends, no - they were closer than that, and Percy had yet to find a name for it.
"Oh, that's a surprise." Yep. Definitely his Wise Girl. He chuckled, she chuckled, and they snuggled in together, Annabeth's hands lazily turning the page of her book.
"But like - what do I do about it?" The words were swimming in front of his face. It had been a long time since Percy had read anything but Greek.
"Well, what do you want to do?" Practical Annabeth. She was smiling something warm under her gold curls, frizzy from the rain, and he thought about it. Funny, that it hadn't really occurred to him to think in terms of what he wanted.
Percy chose his words carefully. "I think... I like making him happy. It sounds kind of lame, but it's true. I love the look on his face when his eyes get all big and dark and hot and I know there's nothing else in the world for him but me."
Annabeth turned another page, humming. "There isn't ever, you know. It's always about you, for him."
"Yeah, but I. I guess. Maybe what I'm saying is, that is the sort of dynamic we work with and it feels right to do that in bed, too? I don't know, man, this is totally out of my depth."
His Wise Girl chuckled and rubbed at his messy black hair. "You're always out of your depth, Seaweed Brain."
"Knockitoff."
"No, never!" She stuck out her tongue at him, and they both laughed, the tension dispelling instantly. But Annabeth wasn't done. "...The thing about you, Percy, is that - hmm. How do I put it." She tapped long fingers on the spine of her book. "You're made for depth. That's what you do. You're always getting thrown in the deep end and unlike anyone else, you find your footing and come out on top."
Percy's nose wrinkled. "That is way too many mixed metaphors." But, he actually did get it, so. Maybe she had a point.
"I'm just saying, you've got this look like you're standing on a cliff edge and you don't know what you're jumping into - and we both know where this is bound to go."
He sighed. He should know by now, really - Annabeth was always right. "Yeah, okay. I'm in. Tell me everything."
•
As it turned out, Annabeth didn't know all much - but, unsurprisingly, she knew who did. Which was how Percy came to be passing through the Via Graeca, an underground magical road of some sort that connected New Athens to New Rome. More of Annabeth's genius. It had something to do with the collapsed Labyrinth, but really, Percy couldn't bring himself to care about the details - it was the first time he'd needed it. Usually, Nico would just drag him along through the shadows.
Reyna had a place of her own in New Rome now. Though, being that she was the primary liason to Camp Half-Blood and New Athens, he saw way more of her back home than in her own city. They were good friends, now. The best of them. He wondered if that was another gay thing - having a whole lot of female friends. And then he thought that every one of those female friends would punch him for thinking it.
"Percy!" Reyna's face lit up in a wide grin. "Annabeth told me you were on your way. Having some boy problems?" Her eyes glittered with mischief, and Percy was suddenly and viscerally terrified.
"Uh, no, not problems, really..." She didn't seem inclined to let him inside.
"No, true, kink is never a problem." Reyna still had that predator's smirk on her face, and Percy gulped hard. "Babe!" she called over her shoulder. "Taking Percy out to see Butch! Be good." That last bit sounded like more than a tease - it sounded like an order.
He could hear a distracted probably-male voice from an upstairsish location. "Yes, sir!" He didn't question it. Reyna was, and always would be, a leader. Percy himself had had the urge to call her sir a few times now and then.
"Right, let's go. Before he realized what he just agreed to." Reyna winked. He didn't get it. "Oh, look at your face. So precious. Come. We'll sit down and have lunch and I'll tell you all about BDSM."
•
He'd heard the term before. Sort of. Vaguely. What came to mind was isn't that whipping and stuff? but, considering what he'd come here to ask, he really shouldn't judge.
Reyna gave him another long once over. Then she started from the very beginning.
"Look, the BDSM lifestyle - that's what it's called, the lifestyle - the first thing is that it's different for everyone. Everyone. The same way that every couple does things differently, you know? So just because you like to do x y and z, don't mean you're required to like doing a b and c. Or you could just like x and a. Or all of them. It's up to you and your partner, okay?"
He nodded, sipping at a pink lemonade. That just sounded like common sense. "What's BDSM stand for, anyway?"
She chuckled. "Bondage, dominance, sadism and masochism. Or sometimes the S is for submission - dominance and submission. Personally I like that part the best. I'm no sadist, even though my boy's a happy little pain slut on days that end in Y."
Percy choked on his straw. "Hang on, what?" Where had this conversation gone off the rails without him? Or. Maybe he was just doubly shocked that Reyna had a boy she hadn't told him about, as well as having just used the word 'slut' in, like. Conversation. Just, what.
Reyna was laughing at him. Damnit. "I mean it in the best of ways, Perce. He gets off on it. He likes that the pain gives him focus, and more importantly, discipline. O and I have rules. Or, it's more like, I have rules for him that he follows or he gets punished."
Yeah, no, Percy was still lost. Wait. Hang on. O...
"Octavian? You're fucking Octavian?!"
Her eyes did that sparkly happy thing again, which he was really beginning to dread. "Ooh, you got it right! See, most people, when they find out, they're all - he's fucking you? No, no, dear, I'm fucking him. It's a fine distinction, yes, but a very important one, I think." Reyna had ordered a ginger ale; she took a break to drink from it, her eyes still laughing.
"That isn't what I meant," Percy said. It said something about him, maybe, that he didn't question that distinction at all, and he knew what she meant. If anyone were to ask if Nico was fucking him, that would get a bit of a laugh, too. "It's - gods. Octavian, really?"
Reyna snorted. "I'd say it's been a long time since you've seen him, but no, he's still as vile as ever. But only if he hasn't gotten whipped and fucked into submission lately. I don't let him be a bad person, and he can be really very sweet when the alternative is a cock cage for the rest of the week."
Percy stared. Stared. On one hand, there were a whole bunch of terms in there that he couldn't even wrap his head around but, on the other hand? Anything that could make Octavian even the slightest bit agreeable was, quite frankly, magical.
"...Okay. Seriously. Tell me everything. I'm hooked."
•
Reyna talked all through lunch, then all the way down the street as they headed further into town. She told him about safewords and subspace. She told him about different kinds of pain, about punishment versus reward, about how it didn't have to be a lifestyle but sometimes it had to be. They paused at the door to a shop liberally slathered in rainbows, and Percy raised an eyebrow.
"Has to be? How's that?"
Reyna shoved at him, pushing him through the door. "Well, think about it. Octavian, for example. He needs order in his life, and he's too stubborn and nasty to admit it, so I make sure he gets it. It isn't easy, but... it's worth it, knowing I can make someone happy."
Percy stared at her. She was right, now that he thought - and, well. That was what it was all about, right? Making someone happy. Reyna was right. It was worth it.
"Hey, Butchie. Look who I brought to see you."
Percy finally looked around - and then his jaw may or may not have hit the floor. Not, actually, because he was surrounded by leather and dildos and things that looked like torture devices and probably were - but because the man behind the counter was familiar. Oh. That Butch.
The man grinned ear to ear. "Hey, Percy! It's been a while. How are you and Annabeth?"
"Not," he said, automatically, then shook himself and rephrased. It had been way too long since someone had asked him about her like that. "I mean, we broke up ages ago. I'm with Nico now."
"Really?" Butch's face lit up even brighter. "Dude. You need to come visit more. I mean it. Rey, make him come."
Reyna chuckled and patted Percy on the shoulder. "Butch, you know I only do that for O."
He paused a second. Then laughed. Hearty, full and happy, and Percy couldn't help but smile. He dimly remembered now that Butch had taken off for New Rome when it had become available - something about more clients for a business. Percy could see why, now.
There was a shuffling sound and loud cracked yawn from a back room, then another familiar face appeared - Clovis. Percy wasn't actually all that surprised when the man wandered over to Butch, draped up against him for a sloppy but sweet kiss, then fell into an armchair behind the cash register and sank into another nap. The only thing surprising was that Clovis seemed to be wearing a collar - but it was more surprising that it didn't surprise him. Or something. Nothing seemed surprising anymore today.
"So," Reyna began, leaning up against the glass counter. "Percy says Nico's got the makings of a pretty, needy sub, and he wants to get kitted up."
Percy sputtered. "I did not!" Confused and new to this he may be - pushover, he was not.
Butch just chuckled. "Oh, there's a surprise. Have you been overloading his brain with too much information?"
"Yep," Reyna said, and damn proud of it she seemed, too. Percy made a rude gesture - which, for some reason, made Butch laugh even louder.
"Oh, I can see it, I can see it. Clo? Wake up, love, we've got customers."
Clovis snapped his eyes open and peered up at Butch, the vacant dreamy look replaced by a bright smile. "I'm up, Sir."
"Good boy." Butch ruffled his hair, Clovis sank into the caress - and that. That. That was what he wanted, to see Nico go all pliant and beautiful and needy. Oh, fuck. Yep. He was doing this, this was happening. Reyna was right. Again. Women. Go figure.
"Okay," Percy said, stepping up to the plate. He was doing this, so he was going to own it. "Tell me what I'm going to need and show me how to use it."
•
Percy wasn't home when Nico got there, which wasn't all that weird, just - he wasn't supposed to be working today, and that morning, Percy had been completely content to lay around the house like a boneless slug. Still. Not too weird. It wouldn't be the first time Percy had taken the words 'day off' to mean 'go hang out around the Camp anyway and get on everyone's nerves'. Nico liked working for Charon much better. Reaping was hard work, but weirdly? Fun.
And it was always nice to have a home to come to.
Nico wriggled out of his chucks and shrugged off his signature jacket. He'd finally grown into it - vertically, at least. He'd never quite managed to fill out properly, but hey. Son of Hades. Stick skinny was probably part of the deal.
Sometimes he wondered, though, whether Bianca would've been skinny, too, or if she'd've taken after Maria and gotten all curvy and mature. He didn't know which one he would've preferred.
Mostly, it was the not knowing that got to him.
He was on the couch by then, brooding away, so he didn't even hear the door open and the gentle sounds of Percy shucking his own shoes and coat and shopping. He didn't know his lover was home at all until warm, callused hands stroked along his jawline from behind, and he slid right into it, sighing.
Did anyone ever really stop mourning?
Those hands pulled his chin up, and he noticed there was something... different about them. A new kind of pressure - more solid, more forceful, but utterly controlled and gentle still. It sent a low wave of heat seeping through him, his heart doing a bit of a jump in his chest as he thought about those hands, about what that little edge of force could possibly mean.
"Nico. Look at me."
That, too, had a thread of command in it, and Nico was twisting around to look up before he'd even really registered that he was going to. That little wave because a fierce, sharp rush when he saw the look in Percy's eyes - hot and hard, like steel. Oh, fuck. What the fuck. What.
"You were thinking."
He didn't need to say what Nico was thinking about; what was Nico ever thinking about? He had exactly three obsessions in his life; they were Percy, Bianca, and Mythomagic. It was pretty easy to tell which one had capsized him this time.
He nodded, not denying it. He was much more interested in why Percy was looking at him like that - no, fuck it, he didn't care why, he just desperately needed it not to stop.
"No more thinking."
Percy leaned down as if to kiss him, those hands still holding his chin quite firmly in place, but at the last second, he bit instead of kissed. Right at the edge of Nico's lip. Fuck.
"Yeah," he breathed, agreeing instantly with this alternative.
"Sir."
Nico blinked. "Huh?"
Percy was still looking at him. Deep. Dark. Hard. Controlled. "Yes, Sir."
Oh.
Oh, fuck.
His cock went straight from interested to aching in less than a second. His voice, when he finally found it, was shaking. "Yes, Sir."
Oh, fuck. That felt. So good. So right. Jesus fucking tapdancing Christ. Wait.
"...Percy. What the fuck."
He hit him. Actually hit him. Not hard or anything, certainly not anywhere near as hard as they punched each other on a daily basis for no reason at all, but it did sting - and his cock fucking jumped. Percy looked... expectant.
"What the fuck... Sir?"
And with that, the scene broke. Percy started laughing and Nico did too, but he felt like he was fucking spinning out of control and if this was all some sort of joke - "Percy. Seriously. What the fuck."
Percy cupped his face in his hands again, sweetly this time. "Nico. Seriously. I talked to Annabeth."
Fuck. No good ever came of those words. Ever. His throat went bone-dry. "Y-yeah?"
"And she told me to go talk to Reyna." Percy's thumbs began stroking his cheeks, the motion repetitive and lulling. "Reyna told me way more than I ever wanted to know about her sex life."
"Uh huh." Where was this even going? It didn't matter, though, as long as Percy kept touching him like that.
"...I noticed how much you like it when I hold you down," Percy murmured, and Nico would've jumped - his lips were right next to his ear, suddenly, but that stroking on his cheeks kept him boneless and relaxed. Stroke, stroke, stroke. "And I thought we might make it a little more official."
Oh. Yeah. Holding him down. Yeah.
Then Nico really did jump - because Percy was wrapping thick, heavy leather cuffs around his wrists. His heart slammed against his ribcage, but his cock responded just as wildly, damn near throbbing in his pants. "F-"
"Nico." Percy had steel in his voice again and Nico shuddered, hard. "Safeword?"
It was a test, and Nico knew it. Percy was asking him if he knew what was going on, and honestly, it worked in reverse, too - just hearing that from Percy's mouth made him relax everywhere, and the explanation slotted into his head belatedly. Annabeth had told him to go see Reyna and Percy was mentioning safewords, which meant he'd been curious enough to truly want to know, and Annabeth had pointed him in the right direction.
Nico licked his lips, staring up at his lover with naked adoration.
"Bianca," he whispered, unable to think of any other word that he would remember at the very edge.
But Percy shook his head. "No, c'mon. She's your sister, not your lifeline. Something else. Something for us."
There was so much in those sentences. Nico felt more than a little weak, and he just leaned into Percy's hands and the cuffs and the couch. She is your sister, Percy had said. Not your lifeline - like she was better than that. And something for us - because Percy understood that she was Nico's and no one else's, and it made him shake. He loved this man. Really, he really really did.
"Octopus," he said, picking something completely at random. Percy nodded.
"Right," he muttered, and for a second, they just stared at each other - nervous, excited, helpless, adoring. One last moment as themselves.
But then, Percy didn't snap into his role like Nico had expected. Instead he leaned in, chuckled softly - then bit, right at the juncture of Nico's neck and jaw.
His body jerked and he hissed out, "Fuck!" but before he could squirm away Percy had grabbed his cuffs, hooked them together, and snapped on a chain that he quickly anchored under the couch. Nico snarled and tugged at them, hard - but it held, and when Percy stepped back it was with a wicked playful grin. He was still Percy. Nico was still Nico. And they were doing this. Yeah.
Nico could hear the way his blood was pounding in his ears.
"Percy," he said, his voice sounding strained and scared to his own ears. "I don't - Percy -"
He ignored him, going instead to pick up a bag and toss it over Nico's shoulder onto the coffee table. Nico tried to crane around and look - but Percy got a hand in his hair, turned his head back around and pressed it forward. Not shoving, no, but it had that underlying force that made the air whoosh out of Nico's lungs. Fuck. Fuck. He was shaking. Visibly.
"Calm down," Percy murmured in his ear, as he pushed Nico's shirt up and stroked his fingers up the line of Nico's bony spine. "I love you. You know that, right? I love you. You're beautiful."
He didn't relax all the way, but that helped. Some. The reality of getting what you want was unnerving, sometimes, and he knew he wanted it - gods, he'd thought about it more than was probably healthy - but it was. Fuck. Scary.
Good scary, though.
Goddamnit, he was going to freak out any second now.
There was a light swat on his ass and Nico's hips jerked, a strangled gasp wrenching from his lips.
"I thought I said no thinking?"
Fuck. How the fuck could he do that? He still sounded in every way like Persexy Jackson, the same guy who'd left soapy handprints all over his shirt this morning, the same guy who laughed and swore at the TV when he was losing in Mario Kart, the same guy who made butt jokes at every opportunity, for crying out loud. Same Percy. And it was that exact same percy who was ordering him, in that calm and steady Percy way, not to think. Ordering.
Right, so. The next move was his. He just didn't fucking know if he could still be himself while he was being a sub.
Another swat. He jumped again, the cuffs rattling, and an unexpected snarl pushed out of him. "Asshole!"
"That's Sir Asshole to you, cheeky."
Nico laughed. He couldn't help it. It was strangled and hysterical, but he couldn't help it, Percy was -
Percy was opening his lips up over the top knob of his spine, wet heat pulling at the skin. Nico moaned.
".... Sir," he whispered.
He felt it, the way Percy's entire body shook against him, and that - that was good. That was so good, knowing he wasn't the only person who was more than a little okay with this. He reminded himself that it was Percy who'd gone out of his way to learn this shit; Percy who had bought the cuffs and chained him up. If he didn't want this, he wouldn't fucking be here. The end.
"Sir?" Nico asked, leaning his head to the side so he could catch Percy's face out of the corner of his eye.
"Yeah?" Percy was still kissing at his spine.
"Mmh- Can I. Can I roll over, please, Sir? I want to see you." It sounded so fucking obscene. So fucking obscene. He loved every second of it.
Percy dug his teeth in for a moment, sucked up a mark right there where he'd been kissing. Nico groaned. He was no stranger to Percy leaving marks every-fucking-where on his tan skin - like he had to do double duty, since Nico couldn't retaliate. Nico bitched, but he loved it. Loved the pain of it - deep and sharp and cathartic, shocking - loved the aftermath, being covered with Percy's love and aching with it. So good.
He tapped at Nico's hip, urging him to turn. He did, awkwardly - ended up sprawled a little low on the couch, his arms twisted back behind his head. Percy gave him a long, critical look.
"Bed?"
"Yes, Sir." Nico grinned. Hey, if Percy was gonna call him cheeky, he'd better live up to the title, right?
Percy snickered and flicked Nico right on the nipple before reaching up to unhook the chain. He gasped, arching up into him, and before he could even take a breath Percy was grabbing his hips, hauling him quite literally up the stairs.
Oh, fuck. He was so goddamn happy.
•
Percy met Reyna for lunch at the same little bistro they'd gone to before. Percy got a lemonade, Reyna got a ginger ale. It would've been like deja vu, except Percy felt nothing but settled and sated and utterly, completely satisfied.
Reyna smirked like she knew exactly what he was thinking. "So," she drawled, "how's your boy?"
He smirked right back at her and countered. "How's yours?"
They had a good laugh at that, and the more Percy thought about it, the more Annabeth - as always - was right. He was always out of his depth, but only because he was made for it, made to cross boundaries that others wouldn't even consider trying. And when he got there, he forged on. So he would own this, be the best goddamn top he could be for his beautiful needy hilarious amazing boy, and from there, who knew? Even if he didn't know what he was getting into, he was, as Annabeth said, bound to go there.
Which was really fucking funny, all things considered.