if u still want prompts too: nico introducing his two puppies to each other, jason and cerberus
for you, ren??? anything. i hope you like this.
Jason was pretty sure he was justified in being nervous about Meet The Parents night. Yes, he lo— He liked Nico a lot, and wanted to meet the people who were important to him, and wanted to support him in every facet of his life. His dad was scary, though.
And also Lord of the Underworld, who refused to come up to the surface to meet his son’s boyfriend. Probably for stupid power reasons. Jason really didn’t want to go to the Underworld before he absolutely had to, but.
It was for Nico.
“Just to be sure—you’re sure he’ll let me come back again?”
Jason couldn’t see Nico’s face, but he could still sense his eye roll as the two of them approached the pile of rocks that was supposedly an entrance to Hades—the domain, not the god.
“If he doesn’t, he’s going to regret it. I can be very annoying when I put my mind to it.” Nico looked back to Jason, his eyes soft around the edges. “It’s going to be okay, I promise.” He held his hand out, and Jason gratefully took it. The warmth was a comfort, but the knowledge that Nico was close, that Nico would stay close no matter what happened down there, was more so. He gave a gentle squeeze.
“I—” Jason cleared his throat. “Yeah. Okay. Let’s go.”
They needed music for this entrance, apparently. Exceptionally good music, maybe. Maybe just exceptionally emotional? Jason didn’t understand it completely, but that was okay, as long as Nico knew what he was doing. He seemed to. After squeezing Jason’s hand in return, he pulled the two of them toward the rocks and glanced back, just for a moment, before he began to sing.
Jason had heard Nico sing a few times before—in the privacy of his own cabin, when he got Loopy tired, and even a few times, very quietly, at the campfire at night—but he always wanted to hear more. Nico’s voice wasn’t the kind of voice that you would hear on the radio, but it carried more emotion than any top 40’s hit Jason had ever heard. It was rough, a little scratchy around the edges, and flitted from place to place with both ease and suddenness—like a butterfly in flight, or maybe a hummingbird. He was a tenor, but usually stayed close to his lower register.
Now, though, he cleared his throat a few times and started into something higher than usual. Jason couldn’t understand all of what he was singing. It was in Italian, and as much as Jason was proud of his progress in the language so far, he wasn’t quite good enough to be able to understand all the words while he was focused on his boyfriend’s voice and the way his face looked while he sang. His eyes were closed, which was probably good—he might have been embarrassed with the intensity of Jason’s gaze.
Oh well. Jason wasn’t about to look away. Nico had something of a smile around his mouth and eyes as he sang, not enough to throw off the vowels, but enough to make the song itself sound happier. It was a lullaby, probably, based on the notes and the basic rhyme scheme that even Jason could pick up. It was soft and comforting and Jason loved—he loved the song. It was very pretty.
He didn’t even see the first rocks shifting, he was so focused on the way Nico turned breath into music. He only broke out of his reverie because Nico nudged him, eyes still closed but eyebrows drawn together.
Right. He wasn’t just here to watch Nico sing all day. There was more on the agenda.
The rocks in front of him shuddered, scraping and grinding across each other as they moved. Darkness peeked out from behind them, and Jason’s grip tightened.
Nico grasped back and continued to sing, slightly louder, slightly fuller. The rocks rolled away to reveal an entrance that was little more than a crack, but Jason would be able to fit through it if he squeezed. Nico wouldn’t have any problem.
The last notes of the lullaby faded out and Nico opened his eyes, zeroing in on the entrance immediately. He grinned.
Jason couldn’t quite bury the urge to kiss him, but he knew that there was no time to get distracted, so he brought their still-entwined hands to his lips instead. It was enough.
“C’mon, the doors will close soon. Let’s go.”
To say the walk down to the Underworld was dark would be a gross understatement. It was the darkest thing Jason had ever experienced, a darkness that felt physical, felt as if it were pressing in on him more for each step he descended. He knew better than to look back toward the entrance, but he couldn’t feel or sense any light behind him, any hint of sky. Underground was very much not his favorite place.
Nico was still holding his hand, though. His touch was warm and grounding, his fingers thinner than Jason’s, bonier but no less calloused. Their hands, in Jason’s opinion, fit together perfectly. It was enough to make Jason keep walking down these endless stairs.
Eventually, he could see a hint of light ahead of them—or maybe his eyes had just adjusted to the lack of light so much that he had gained the ability to see in the dark. He wasn’t entirely sure which one was more probable.
Either way, as they approached, Jason started to make out individual stairs. He could see Nico’s silhouette in front of him, dark, wavy hair catching what little red-tinged light there was. He would follow that silhouette anywhere.
They finally got to the bottom of the stairs. Jason blinked a few times, adjusting to the light—there really wasn’t much in the Underworld (he was in the Underworld!), but it was still a lot more than Orpheus’ staircase. It left him feeling a little disoriented.
Nico seemed just fine beside him, though. Jason tried to focus on his light smile as he got used to the low light and stale air.
They had come out right next to a grand set of gates, and Jason could see lines of—smudges? Smoke?—extending for as far as he could see on the other end.
He realized with a lurch to his stomach that the smudges were souls, actually. He was looking at souls as they lined up for judgment, and from this angle, they looked no more distinct than the smoke that rose from the campfire on particularly low-energy nights at Camp Half-Blood.
He would end up like that someday.
Nico tightened his grip before Jason could get too into his own head, though. He pulled Jason closer to the gates, and Jason couldn’t resist.
“Oh, I forgot this entrance came out on this side… He should still be close…” Nico started mumbling as they approached the gates, and Jason tried very, very hard not to be distracted at the seemingly endless line of dead people they were getting closer to. This was a natural and necessary part of life, and people had to go somewhere after they died, but Jason hadn’t really thought about it before. Not like this, at least. The dead souls weren’t a bad thing, he told himself. They just were. This was another part of life, one that he would have to deal with someday. These weren’t people that needed his help. These were people in line for the afterlife DMV.
That helped a little. The thought that he was here to meet his wonderful boyfriend’s terrifying father, who could very easily turn him into one of those shades if he made a bad impression, also helped.
“Ah! There he is!”
Jason whipped around to where Nico was looking, eyes wide, terrified at the thought that Lord Hades himself was right there at the gates, passing judgment on the shades.
It was not Hades. Nico was smiling one of Jason’s favorite smiles, the one that Nico wore around Mrs. O’Leary and the campers who were probably too young to be there, but were there and needed role models anyway. He not only looked happy, but also genuinely excited—he actually wanted to spend time with whatever he was smiling at, and he wasn’t afraid that whatever it was would end up rejecting him. It was a good smile, wide and open, showing his crooked teeth without self-consciousness.
Jason followed Nico’s smile and found himself looking at the biggest Rottweiler he’d ever seen in his life. It was maybe thirty feet tall, its barrel chest solid muscle, its leather collar generously spiked. It also had three heads.
“Cerberus!” Nico sounded more excited to see the dog than he was to see most people aboveground. The dog was a little scary, yeah, but that fact alone was pretty cute. If Nico loved the gigantic three-headed guard dog of the Underworld this much, Jason figured it was alright.
Nico looked back at him, the skin around his eyes still wrinkled in his smile. “This is my dog. He’s kind of big, but don’t let that fool you. He’s a big softie.”
Jason felt his mouth turn up at the corners. He’d never heard Cerberus described as a softie before, but he’d never heard about Cerberus from someone who actually knew him, either. If Nico wasn’t worried, he wouldn’t be, either.
He looked at the dog, who had two heads turned toward the two of them. Both of them were cocked, sniffing at the newcomers. Its stump of a tail was wiggling a bit—he must have caught scent of Nico, but he couldn’t have identified Jason yet. Jason held out his hand, suddenly wishing he had thought to pack dog treats or a gigantic rope toy or something into his backpack alongside the “thank you for having me please don’t smite me on the spot” gifts he’d brought for Hades and Persephone.
One of Cerberus’ heads lowered enough to sniff at his hand curiously, his breath strong enough to wash over all of Jason. It was, frankly, a little gross.
He liked dogs, though. He’d been through this before.
After a sniff or two, the second head was right there, vying for space close to Jason. He pulled Nico in close, to make sure that he smelled at least a little familiar to Cerberus. He made a loud sniffing noise right back, even though it was almost useless to him and he could hear Nico trying to muffle a snicker next to him. It was important, okay? Cerberus had to know that Jason was investigating him just as much as he was investigating Jason.
Something about Jason must have come across as good, because the two heads closest to him lowered and he bowed a bit, more like a puppy ready to play than anything respectful. When Jason glanced toward the rest of his body, Cerberus’ tail was going hard enough to make his entire backside wag back and forth. The third head, which had been staunchly looking over the shades awaiting judgement, looked a lot more interested in the proceedings between its other heads and Jason than its sworn duty.
That was a good sign, probably. Jason lifted his hand a bit more, letting what little air currents he could find down here boost him taller in order to scratch under the nearest chin he could reach.
He didn’t go so high as to drop Nico’s hand, though. He made sure of that.
Cerberus gave two more heavy snuffs at him—one from each head paying attention to him—before the leftmost head lolled out its tongue and lunged in to lick Jason’s face. It accidentally got the rest of his body, too. An understandable mistake. Its tongue was about the same size as Jason.
The first indicator he had of Nico laughing at him wasn’t sound, but instead was a slight trembling from where their hands were still connected. He looked back to see Nico hiding the lower half of his face behind his free hand, but he couldn’t hide his eyes. They curled into crescent moons, and the corners of them cut deep into the surrounding skin. The laugh was silent, but obvious.
It was a comfort. Jason let himself smile.
“Something funny to you, di Angelo?”
Nico moved his hand to the back of his neck absentmindedly, pausing here and there along the way. His smile hadn’t left his face.
“You’re good with dogs.”
Jason snorted and turned back to Cerberus, moving his hand to scritch the other head’s chin. The third head was looking a lot more interested in the proceedings at this point, giving Jason the sad eyes.
“I would hope so. Lupa would be pretty disappointed in me if I’d forgotten how to speak wolf.”
The head that he’d focused his attention on closed its eyes in contentment, leaning onto Jason’s hand hard enough to push him back to the ground. He had to brace himself against the floor in order to not be knocked over by the enthusiasm of the dog’s happiness. The third head finally gave up watching the lines of souls and inched closer to Jason, giving a few cursory sniffs of its own.
This felt easy. It felt comfortable. Jason knew how to interact with dogs, he knew how to act and what to do. Dogs were a lot more straightforward than humans, let alone gods.
“Well then.” Something about Nico’s voice made Jason turn to meet his eye, though his hand still worked where it was. Cerberus let out a low whine of happiness.
“You’ve passed the test. My favorite family member already likes you.”
Jason paused his motions for a moment to stare at Nico, his mischievous smile, the deep lines around his eyes, the faint dimples in his cheeks. He was the brightest point in their dark surroundings, and here he was, still trying to calm Jason’s nerves.
Jason loved—
He loved that smile. It meant Nico was happy, relaxed, comfortable enough to tease Jason. It was a good smile. Jason loved it when Nico was comfortable. He swallowed around the lump in his throat.
Cerberus nudged his hand with its nose—he wasn’t entirely sure which one—and it was enough to make him resume his scritches, though he didn’t look away from his boyfriend. Nico had already promised that this trip was going to turn out alright.
How did you come up with the title to Rewrite the Stars?
The story was originally called “When the Wind Changes,” which was based off of the song, “All I’ve Ever Known” from Hadestown, and specificallyt he lyrics:
Suddenly the sunlight
Bright and warm
Suddenly I'm holding the world in my armsSay that you'll hold me forever
Say that the wind won't change on us
Say that we'll stay with each other
And it will always be like thisI'm gonna hold you forever
The wind will never change on us
As long as we stay with each otherThen it will always be like this
However, Rewrite the Stars is a song sung by Zac Efron and Zendaya, and the lyrics reflect what happens to Jason and Nico once Jason loses his memories 8)
You know I want you
It's not a secret I try to hide
I know you want me
So don't keep saying our hands are tied
You claim it's not in the cards
Fate is pulling you miles away
And out of reach from me
But you're here in my heart
So who can stop me if I decide
That you're my destiny?
