Prompt: Waffle
Percy Jackson woke up to the smell of sizzling bacon and a warm body curled against his side. Just about the best way to wake up during winter break if you asked him. He glanced down to where a head of dark curls rested on his chest. It was a rare moment when Percy got up before Nico, and he couldn’t resist taking the moment to examine the younger boy’s sleeping face.
Delicate, was Percy’s first thought. Soft, dark hair swirling long and loose around pale olive skin. Thick, curved lashes framing the widest, darkest eyes Percy had ever seen. Even closed, they fanned out over high cheekbones, leading the eye naturally downwards to a thin nose atop bow shaped pink lips.
Nico di Angelo, despite all his dark clothes and even darker glares, looked as gentle as his namesake when he was asleep, and Percy couldn’t resist the urge to brush that feathery hair out of his face. His hair was as soft as it looked, and his fingers tingled where they’d touched it, a confusing sensation that was getting more and more common around Nico, before Percy began nudging Nico’s sleeping form gently off of him. Nico still grumbled in his sleep, of course, and Percy felt a fond smile tugging at his lips as he shuffled out of bed and tucked the covers in around the son of Hades. Percy knew from experience that Nico lost body heat far too easily.
And, sure, he didn’t take too long to warm up, but considering the only reason they shared a bed was so that Nico wouldn’t catch his death on the floor—like he seemed adamant about doing when Percy had first brought it up—it would suck to have all that effort go to waste.
Percy could admit, he’d expected this whole ‘living with Nico’ thing to be more awkward—especially when he wasn’t even sure if his mom would be okay with it at the time. Something about letting Nico walk away after the Labyrinth had felt wrong, though. Percy still wasn’t sure what about his argument had convinced Nico to stay with his family for the year while he tried to find clues about his own, but that was one gift horse he wasn’t planning to stick his head into.
“Morning, mom.”
“Morning, sweetheart. You two sleep alright?”
“Yeah, it was nice. Bacon?” Percy couldn’t help the tinge of hopeful excitement in his voice.
His mom let out a fond laugh.
“Yes, there’s bacon. Scrambled eggs, too. We’d be having pancakes as well if someone hadn’t used all the flour.”
“Nico said he’d never had waffles, I couldn’t just let that stand!”
His mom let out another laugh while Percy pouted. Okay, so they hadn’t actually made any waffles, but that totally wasn’t Percy’s fault! How was he supposed to know they didn’t actually own a waffle iron? The pancakes they’d made from the batter had at least been decent, and the small smile that had settled on Nico’s face had been more than worth the embarrassment of failing.
“Do the two of you have any plans?” His mom asked as Percy started setting up the table.
“Not really,” Percy said with a shrug. “We haven’t found any leads yet on his family, so I was thinking of taking him to the movies to take his mind off things?”
“Oh? That sounds nice, were you planning to eat before that?” His mom had a weirdly conspiratorial smile as she asked that, but Percy nodded anyways.
“Yeah, I was thinking we could stop by McDonald’s first, and maybe get some hot chocolate after?” His mom’s smile only seemed to get wider.
“And were you planning to split the costs, or…?”
“It’s my idea, so I’m going to pay for it. And I saved up my allowance, so I have it covered!”
“I see,” his mom said in a weirdly knowing tone. Percy frowned, wondering what he was missing. “I’m glad you thought so far ahead. I hope you two have lots of fun on your… outing.”
“What outing?” Nico’s soft voice murmured from the doorway. Percy took a moment to reply—no matter how many times he saw the other boy in his old pajamas, it still made his stomach flip and left his mouth feeling dry for some reason.
“It’s a surprise, I’ll explain later.”
Nico frowned at him, but nodded agreeably anyway, before making his way to the fridge to pull out a pitcher of orange juice for the table.
Seeing how comfortably Nico moved made Percy grin. They’d all settled into a routine surprisingly quickly, and it was easy in a way so few things were in his life. The Great Prophecy still hung over their heads, but he found it wasn’t too hard to let himself forget all about it most days.
“So Nico, I was thinking I could finally give you that skateboarding lesson today?” Percy asked as they started eating.
“You just want to see me fall on my ass, don’t you?”
Percy gasped dramatically. “Nico, I would never! How could you even suggest it?”
The boy in question rolled his eyes.
“Oh, gee, I don’t know, maybe it has something to do with how hard you were laughing when we went ice skating?”
"…I plead the third,” Percy said, hand raised.
"So, you refuse to quarter troops in your house?" Nico asked, a single eyebrow raised questioningly as his lips curved up in an amused smirk.
“That too,” Percy said with a grin.
Nico snorted.
“Fine, I guess I can fit it into my busy schedule.” Percy laughed, and they all went back to eating. As they were finishing up, Nico asked: “So, was that the outing?”
“Oh, uh, no,” Percy stammered out, suddenly nervous for reasons he couldn’t make heads or tails of. “Not, not really?”
“Do I get to know what it is, then?”
“Yeah…” Percy trailed off, his eyes landing on Nico’s curious stare before darting over to his mom, who gave him an encouraging nod. He took a breath in. “I was thinking we could get something to eat after, and then see a movie together, and maybe stop by and get something to drink after that—make a whole day of it, you know?”
Nico stared at him, his eyes wide and tumbling through a dozen different emotions as his pale cheeks flushed an eye-catching pink.
“…that sounds like—” Nico paused abruptly, his eyes off to the side, then started again. “—sounds like fun, actually.”
“Yeah?” Percy breathed out hesitantly, feeling like he’d won the grand prize at a carnival when Nico gave him a jerky nod.
“Yeah. So I’ll just, get ready then?”
“Sure,” Percy agreed with an irrepressible grin. “I’ll help my mom clean up, take your time!”
Nico gave him another jerky nod, then left for the bathroom. Percy bounced to his feet and started clearing the table, whistling off-tune as he went.
“Someone’s in a good mood?” His mom asked with an amused smile as she took the dishes from him.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Percy asked, still grinning. “If he likes this, then I might even get him to go with me to Coney Island! And I’ve gotta show him the lights on Fifth Avenue next week, and I know we’ve taken Mrs. O’Leary on some walks through Central Park, but I bet he hasn’t had a picnic there yet—though I guess that’s more of a spring thing, but he likes the snow so maybe he’d wanna try it now while we have the chance, you know? Fewer people, too.”
The more Percy thought about it, the more excited he got. Like every moment since Nico had moved in with him had been leading to this. Without a doubt, asking Nico to stay with him was the best decision he’d ever made.
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@percicomicrofic
