This Valentine
This is my gift for percico-feels, she’s is an amazing blogger, whose credit should be pouring all over the percico fanbase right now in my opinion. I know this is super late but HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU JULIANNA.
Word count: 3256
Summary:Nico wanted to make sure Percy didn't do anything stupid on Valentine's day but he also did not want Percy to sulk at home. Meanwhile, Percy was up to an entirely different plan.
Madleidy is my dear beta.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, Rick Riordan does.
#Long distance relationship. #human!au
Like any other day, Nico di Angelo turned on his laptop first thing in the morning. He hadn’t brushed his teeth, combed his hair, or drank a glass of water like he was supposed to. The icon on the left corner of the screen was already lit up, showing that the other person was online. Nico’s eyes traveled down to see the messages he received.
“Happy Valentine’s day, Nico!”
“You too, Percy,” he typed in, and checked the date. It was indeed Valentine's Day.
“Any papers turned in?”
“No. Deadline's three days ago.”
“Are you going to do anything today?
Nico refrained from replying with, “Missing you” and instead with a “I haven’t figured out anything yet.”
Nico stretched. His heart dipped a little when he thought about how they were going to spend their second valentine half way across the Earth from each other.
“Me, too. Mom and Paul will be out on a date, just like old times.”
“You’re not going out?” Nico asked, fingers moving on his keyboard.
“I don’t feel like it,” was the answer.
Nico came back with a toothbrush in his mouth, careful not to let the foam fall down on his precious laptop, which took forever to purchase. He typed back, “It’s college, Percy. At least drag yourself to the clubs.”
“You know I won’t,” was sent by his sociable, outgoing boyfriend.
Nico wondered if he was weighing Percy down. Long-distance relationships hardly ever worked but he didn’t want to break what they had and Percy was too stubborn to move on.
“I’m sorry.”
“Why?” he could even imagine how the pair of eyebrows furrowed in confusion above the beautiful sea green eyes.
“For keeping you like this. You could be happy with someone right now.”
“That’s not the way things work, Nico. I just don’t want to be happy with someone that is not you.” Nico smiled when he saw the smiley face from Percy. “And I’m keeping you, too!”
Nico knew Percy was trying to dispel his worries. The green-eyed always tried to cheer him up when Nico said such things, which happened occasionally.
“I love you, Percy.” Nico felt as if something were stuck in his throat. He hated how ineffable his love for Percy was because he found it difficult to express his feelings, even through letters. “I miss you.”
“I love you and miss you so much, Nico.”
“Please be safe, Percy. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“I’ll try not to.”
Percy’s icon went off at half past six unexpectedly, leaving Nico alone in his empty room, whose source of light came only from his laptop.
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Meanwhile, Percy was typing furiously down on his keyboard, trying to finish another essay before flying again. He couldn’t remember when he first took off from Manhattan anymore, his mind too clouded from transition flights. The lady next to him kept complaining about how the noise from his typing prevented her from sleeping so Percy was making full use of the time he had before another take-off.
Percy Jackson was always the one for crazy decisions but he definitely wouldn’t regret taking international flights to celebrate Valentine’s day with his boyfriend, who was unaware of Percy’s plan. He informed his professors about not showing up in class for a few days and asked if he could turn in the papers through emails. Luckily, all of them agreed.
An announcement was made and Percy unplugged his laptop, readied himself for another flight. He stretched, body aching from having sat too long. His determination was refreshed when Percy caught a glimpse of the blue digital number on his other watch. Being terrible with time differences, he wore two watches on his left arm, the black one showing Singapore’s time so that he knew when to text Nico. The green-eyed could barely wait to see his boyfriend again, after what felt like a decade of seeing each other through selfies and video calls.
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“I always thought we had a chance,”Reyna said, her voice stiff, showing that she was on the verge of tears again. Nico sighed when he looked at the red-rimmed eyes of his friend.
“She’s just confused.” He patted her on the back as the woman with a long braid flowing on her back downed a cup of tequila. “Give her some time.”
“She’s been avoiding me for two weeks.”
“She’s just busy.”
“Annabeth is Annabeth.” Reyna wiped away her forming tears.
Nico nodded, thinking about Percy. He used to travel a lot during his gap year, which was how he had met Percy. The green-eyed had taken him for a ride but somehow ended up traveling with him. Nico indulged his little crush and Percy was so obvious that Nico almost ditched him in anger. The crush grew bigger and bigger as they talked like a hungry wolf trying to stuff itself with meat, which led to Nico returning home. He didn’t remember giving Percy his number but the taller called him three months later. Having found out that they both lived in Manhattan, they started hanging out and became a couple despite the investable obstacle of distance hung in the air above them when Nico had planned to study in Singapore before they met. It was done out of anger when his sister declared that she needed to live her own life now so Nico had to stick to his decision and be responsible for whatever awaits him like an independent adult.
He gave Reyna’s arm a light squeeze and refrained from hugging her. Thinking about Percy and seeing Reyna, his strong comrade, in tears had softened him. It was also Valentine’s day and Percy hadn’t texted him back after fifteen messages. At first, he told the green-eyed about going out with Reyna to cheer her up. Then he failed to suppress the feelings that Percy might want to imply something by not texting him back. A few incoherent words were sent and Nico shut down his laptop, fears slowly consumed him from the inside.
“Here.” Reyna pushed her tequila towards him. “You’re feeling down, too.”
“I’m not.” Nico eyed the drink, fingers tapping on the table. He didn’t like alcohol because of what it did to him.
“Then drink to put up with me later.”
It was eight pm and it was Valentine’s anyway. Nico gave in, the two friends drank, and time dragged.
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“What!?” Percy and the lady whose seat was next to his were informed that their luggage was on another flight. He had no option but to wait for it and he had arrived later than expected already. The thought of queuing in lines of passengers waiting to finish the immigrant procedures enervated his jet lagged body.
The old lady, not being able to handle the silence and his scowling face, started to break the ice.
“Are you on a holiday?” she asked, voice tired but not weak. Percy looked at her worriedly.
“No, I’m here to visit someone.”
“Is he in college, too?”
“Yes, how do you know I’m a college student?”
“You look like my grandson, Fai. He is always typing and writing now. He used to like archery.”
“I think he will take it up again when, you know, he has the time.”
“Fai has to run our apartments alone, he has no time,” the old lady explained, her eyes were bright.
“You love him very much,” Percy said, blushing because of his obvious sentence and the look the lady was giving him.
“Of course I do. But I do not show him that. The boy needs to be strong and independent.” She nodded, her posture stiff. “If you do need a place to stay, here’s the address.” She pulled out the card from her purse. “It’s a small place but we do let students rent.”
“Thanks for your kindness. I think I’ll go to my friend’s apartment.” Percy accepted the card but he didn’t give it a second thought.
Their luggage arrived and after that Percy lost sight of the grandmother, even though he tried looking for her.
His second indignant “What!” was sounded when Percy found out he lost the note on which Nico’s address was written. After a futile attempt on searching for it, he tried to find the nearest place with wifi in order to reload his and Nico’s previous conversations. The green-eyed saw new messages and immediately sensed that his boyfriend was being worried. He was torn between telling Nico that he was here, in Singapore, so close to the dark brown-eyed now and keeping his surprise to himself until the very last minute.
“Nico, I love you so much. I’m sorry for not texting but I’ll tell you everything later.” Percy hoped Nico see this message.
His boyfriend wasn’t online.
The address looked familiar and Percy made sure to write it down on his wrist this time. The black clock showed that it was twenty to ten p.m. Percy took a deep breath to refresh his determination as he headed for Changi’s ATM station.
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Nico felt tears on his face as he unlocked his room. It was so cold, the ground was freezing and the tidiness resulted in too much blank space. He locked the door, threw his phone on the bed and gulped down as much water as he could. He hardly ever regarded himself as a lonely person, building his reputation of an extremely independent person. However, loneliness captured him tonight and Nico low-key did not want to escape.
The black-haired fell face down onto his mattress, not even bothered to take off his hoodie, thinking that he would be crying himself to sleep. He reached out for a pillow and curled into a ball but sleep came faster than expected and saved him from the loneliness that he was supposed to be familiar with.
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Percy wanted to vomit as he woke up from his unsatisfying nap on the speed train. His stomach turned again and again, his head aching. The green-eyed cursed his serious state of jet lag while he walked out on the street, his backpack and small suitcase following behind. Crossing the restaurants which smell of late night barbecues, Percy felt nauseous even more. He walked and walked through blocks of buildings, feet dragging with the heaviness of the laptop on his weary shoulders, trying to find the address.
When he did find it, Percy could only mutter a few incoherent words to the managers before he collapsed on the floor beneath the counter.
The young manager, also a Chinese college student, helped Percy recovered from his exhaustion with glasses of warm water and ginger biscuits. They were sitting in a room fully provided with furniture and the manager, Frank, asked for his personal information to fill in the forms while taking his ID card and passport. Percy told Frank that he only wanted to rent for some hours before his friend took him in.
“Friend? Don’t you mean love interest or something?”
“How do you know I was going to see my boyfriend?”
“Dude, no college students would go half way across the world to visit a friend-“
Percy was about to fire back but Frank held up a hand. “-on Valentine’s day.”
“Shit,” Percy clamped a hand over his tired eyes. “It’s almost over.” It was 12:25 am.
“I know.” Frank sighed. “Long-distance relationships are difficult.”
“You, too?” Percy asked and Frank slumped down, just a little bit. Percy noticed that the Chinese was wearing a really old sweater.
“Her name’s Hazel. She’s the most beautiful.”
“The name sounds familiar.”
“She lives in Bali with her aunt. Since they have a thing for witchcraft, Bali was perfect. She’ll go to college here, next year.”
“Wait, Nico has a sister whose name is Hazel.”
“Nico’s your boyfriend?” Frank asked. “You are Percy Jackson?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure you wrote down my name.”
Frank eyed his heavy and thick textbook on his lap and Percy nodded. A pile of those could cause you to momentarily forget everything around you.
“So… the dude with sea green eyes and body of a Greek soldier?” Frank said and Percy’s face heated up. “Nico can say the cheesiest things in a dead serious tone, you know.”
“He can?” Percy’s insides were flooded with warm feelings and longing to see Nico again. “Frank, you’ve got to help me. I need to see him now.”
“Look, Percy. I’d love to help you and you look like a really nice guy but I can’t let you in his room without permission.” The buff Chinese stood up and put his book away. “I can give him a call. Hopefully he would answer.”
“But I want to surprise him!” Percy pouted, hoping that he hadn’t crossed the line of Frank’s patience.
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“Are you drunk? Are you listening to me right now, Nico?” Frank asked and Percy cringed because he remembered Nico saying that he didn’t like alcohol but somehow was drunk today.
“Who is that that you want me to share my room with? Temporarily right?” Nico asked lethargically from the other side of the phone.
“Percy. Your boyfriend. Percy Jackson.”
“Your boyfriend is going to sleep in my room?” Nico asked again and Percy swore Frank rolled his eyes the twentieth time during that phone call.
“Yes, your boyfriend.”
“Okay.” Frank hung up and sighed. He turned to Percy, who was sitting on the stool at the counter, swiping his finger across the glass surface of his blue watch.
“I don’t even know why he sounds even drunker than when he came back.” Percy hopped down from the stool and hugged him, a true bear hug. “Dude, I owed Nico so much that you better make him happy. But try to keep it down, okay? My grandmother is upstairs.”
“I will.” Percy grinned, feeling a bit less tired.
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When he stepped into Nico’s room, nostalgia ate him alive. For months away from his boyfriend, Percy witnessed the changes in Nico’s personality through their conversations. From a bitter teen who had ran away from home and snapped at Percy all the time, Nico turned into a calmer person. His aura changed and so did his appearances, whose changes became more and more evident through their video calls. However, his smell remained the same, just mixed with the lingering smell of tequila.
Nico’s room was predictably clean and spacious. The only thing that stood out from its tidiness was the lump of blanket on the white mattress. Percy’s breath hitched, heart pounding. He had expected to reunite with Nico earlier so that he could figure out how to react to Nico’s shocked expression and just improvised easily.
All sore and exhausted, Percy lied down next to Nico, close to his messy mop of hair. He stroke the soft dark curls and turned Nico so that the sleeping boy was facing him. Percy’s heart ached when he saw the dark circles and sharp angles on the Italian’s features. It was college written all over his face. Percy wondered if college life hadn’t taken its toll on him or Nico was working twice as hard as others. He kissed away the frown on his boyfriend’s face and embraced him gently, too tired to say “I miss you,” which had been ringing in his ears ever since he started flying from Manhattan.
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Nico woke up at five, hung over and annoyed. He couldn’t handle his morning breath and hated how his hoodie reeked of tequila. The onyx-eyed sure as hell wouldn’t dare to wear it to class today. Taking it off and dumping it in the laundry basket, Nico headed straight to the bathroom, wincing when his feet made contact with the floor. It was unusually damp, Nico scowled at himself, he must have been so drunk that he had forgotten to mop it after washing. He didn’t remember having washed anything so his attempt at recollection made him frown at his reflection on the mirror while brushing his teeth.
When he saw the strange pair of shoes, he rushed back to his mattress with a forbidden thought that he might have had a nightstand and cheated on his boyfriend. Nico’s heart told him it wasn’t the truth but he couldn’t find any other reason behind that pair of converses. The person was still asleep, his face hidden beneath a pillow. Contrary to Nico’s fear, he wasn’t naked but somehow Nico was still not assured. He took a minute to check if there were hickeys on his neck or any sign of having crossed the boundaries. Having heard numerous stories about his friends’ nightstands, the Italian had promised to himself to never be in such situation.
“Hey!” He shook the other person, too freaked out to realize his rudeness. “What did we do last night? Hey!”
“What?” It’s too early, Leo!” The dude grunted and swatted his arm at Nico’s direction. Nico noticed his familiar voice and strangely, two different watches on his left wrist.
“It’s not. You have to leave, now!” Nico urged.
“Five more minutes and I’ll sleep in your bunk, three days!”
“Wake the hell up!” The shorter teen grabbed his left arm and tried to pull him out of the mattress.
“A week!”
“I shouldn’t have drunk last night.” He clamped a hand over his wet eyes. Nico had failed to remember what happened, which was pathetic. Reyna should have stopped him, maybe she had been too drunk to notice, too. How could he allow something like this to happen to him?
Nico began to sob loudly. All the stress built up from the day before and the horror of his new found situation poured out through the tears.
“Wait, Nico!” The sleepy mess that had been lying next to him sat up and grabbed his shoulder. Nico turned, attempted to punch him but was stared at by the sea green eyes whose light a little bit dull from sleepiness.
“It’s me, Percy.”
“Percy? I-I don’t understand,” Nico babbled, tears still trailing down but a wave of relief was rising. “Is this a dream? Sure it’s weird.”
“Look.” “Percy” got up and walked out to grab something from the pair of jeans hanging from Nico’s chair. Nico was rooted to the spot until the green-eyed returned and gave him… airplane tickets. He went over and over the date and destinations as “Percy” slowly pulled him close until his back was against the broad chest.
“How? Why?” he croaked, not turning around to face Percy. Nico was afraid that if he did, Percy would disappear in a puff of smoke.
“I wanted to celebrate Valentine’s day with you but things went wrong. Happy belated Valentine's, Nico.”
Nico cried again, hands covering his face. He was crying because of the confusion he was facing and how surreal reality suddenly became. The hilarity of the situation when he thought he had cheated, the fact that this was a normal day like any other day but Percy was here, right behind him and arms around him, didn’t help Nico to stop crying.
Percy turned his face around and they kissed. The familiar sensation worked well as a reassurance but it ended too fast so Nico started to sob against Percy’s chest as soon as they parted. Then Percy started crying, too. The taller made no sound but Nico knew thanks to the changes in his breathing. His boyfriend was here and was crying with him, it was real enough.
They both knew their tears were happy ones, now.
