I don't think I like this one as much as I liked Tangents. But I'm really excited to write Parallels so. :D

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rick Riordan.

Asymptotes

Asymptotes can get closer and closer, but never meet.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Nico stumbled out of the way, bumping into some guy in the process. "Sorry," instantly came from his mouth before he even caught a glance of the boy. When he did –needless to say, he was far more than embarrassed. In high school, he was pretty much invisible. He was small in stature and people pushed him out of the way without even realizing that he was an actual person. But to be honest, he was used to it.

The boy –who he recognized as Percy Jackson, the swim team captain –smiled at him, and Nico's heart did a little squeeze. He'd had a miniature crush on the guy since he was ten, and he'd hoped that those feelings had left –especially since he hadn't seen a hair of Percy since he was like, twelve. It was the middle of his freshman year in high school now.

No, no. It was probably just some left over feelings, but it was nothing to be concerned about. He was done crushing on Percy Jackson.

"It's no problem." Then Percy seemed to realize something and started. "N-Nico? Nico di Angelo?"

"Hey," he said weakly. "Hi, Percy."

"Damn," Percy muttered, shaking his head, looking irritated with himself. "I haven't seen you since… what, that farewell party for Bianca when she went to that all-girls school." Percy's eyes scan him, sizing him up. His sea-green gaze looked a little guilty. "You've grown a lot."

"Yeah, well that's what kids do, right?" Nico replied, trying hard not to bristle. Bianca was a touchy subject still. He couldn't believe she just left him alone with their dad and evil stepmother (okay, so she's not evil, but they don't see eye-to-eye like, ever. Bianca mentioned once that it was because Nico was too much like their mother, Maria, but Nico had no idea what gave Bianca that impression, because Bianca was Maria di Angelo incarnate, not Nico) for an all-girls boarding school. The last time he saw Bianca was in the summer, and not for very long, because she was always staying at her friends' houses, and he barely had any friends. "We grow. Except obviously I haven't grown enough since I always get run over in the hallways."

Percy blinked, looked at him with a bit of sympathy, and said, "You'll grow more."

Doubtful.

He shrugged in response. The two-minute bell rang, warning them to get to class. They said their goodbyes and hurried to class. Nico sat down in his seat just as the bell rang, and quickly got his stuff out. It was English, and they were reading Romeo and Juliet right now (he'd sighed when his teacher announced they were going to be reading it, because like, dumb teenagers in love, yay. And also they die. Because of stupid reasons. Yep).

He tried to pay attention as their teacher stopped the reading every few lines to translate into modern English and explain the symbolism and whatnot, but for some reason, Nico couldn't concentrate. The fourteen-year-old was too busy thinking of that brief interaction with Percy. Feelings buried deep within him had resurfaced, but instead of that puppy-love crush he'd had back when he was ten to twelve, it was just a dull pang. He wondered what Percy was really up to these days. Like, did he have a girlfriend now? (Slight pang again, but he'd get over it.)

No. No, he wasn't doing this again. He wasn't going to be running back to Percy fucking Jackson with his wide, adoring gaze. He wasn't going to talk to him and hear Percy's voice. He wasn't going to look at Percy's deep green eyes. No, he wasn't going to have anything to do with Percy Jackson. He would avoid him like the plague, Nico decided.

Before he knew it, it was lunch time. As usual, Nico sat on his own at a lunch table. It was perfectly fine with him, though. He just browsed the Internet on his phone, occasionally setting it down to take a bite of his lunch.

That is, before someone sat down beside him.

"Percy? What are you doing here?" he wondered, putting his phone in his pocket.

"I go to school here," the other teen joked, and then sobered slightly. The junior shrugged, grinning at him. "You were alone."

"I'm always alone," Nico pointed out without any bitterness. It was just fact by now.

"Yeah," Percy acknowledged, taking a bite out of his disgusting school burger before continuing. "But I haven't seen you in a long time. I wanted to catch up. God, I can't believe it. I thought you moved to California."

"I did, for a year, at least," he replied. "My half-sister Hazel lives there."

Percy's eyebrows furrowed in thought. "You have a half-sister? I didn't know that."

Nico shrugged and managed a small smile. "Yeah."

"But why did you come back?" Percy wondered, all of his attention focused on the younger teen now.

"Didn't like it much in California," Nico said, though it was more complicated than that. His father had wanted him to come back home, and because Nico honestly didn't care one way or another, there he was back in New York.

"Well, I'm glad to see you again," the junior told him, looking completely genuine, which Nico wasn't used to. Percy was gazing at him with those stupid sea-green eyes that used to make him melt (they totally don't anymore). "We should hang out sometime, Nico."

He tensed slightly. He understood that Percy was sincere, but that didn't mean he understood why the older teen wanted to be friends with him. "Why?"

"You look a bit lonely," Percy admitted.

Nico blinked. He was tempted to lie and tell Percy that he was fine being alone, but truthfully… he didn't like not having friends. He didn't like being isolated. He did want a friend. And Percy, the boy he'd had a crush on forever (but not so much anymore, he was convinced of this), wanted to be that friend? How could he refuse that? The freshman shook his head and sighed. "Okay, sure."

"Can I have your number? So I can text you?" Percy asked.

Nico hesitated, but he saw Percy take his phone out of his pocket and open up his contacts list to add a new one, and he gave his number as slowly as he could.

"Got it. Thanks."

Nico nodded. "Can I have your number, then?"

"Don't worry about it; I'll text you and you can save my number on your phone," the junior promised, smiling. Just then, the administration overseeing the cafeteria signaled the end of lunch.

"We can hang out on Friday, maybe?" Percy said, but Nico didn't have time to answer because he was rushing out of the cafeteria.

Well, there went his plan of avoiding Percy.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"So, what do you want to do?" Percy asked as he opened the door to his apartment and stepped aside, letting Nico enter.

The younger teen just blinked, almost uncomprehendingly. He didn't exactly have friends. He spent time with his half-sister Hazel, and her friends Jason Grace and Frank Zhang, but he was always in the background. He'd only ever felt incredibly close to very few people; Bianca, Hazel, and Percy were the only three, really. "I don't know," he replied, shifting awkwardly and glancing down at his feet.

"No problem. Video games are always an option," Percy told him, shrugging. "Or, well, we could go watch a movie."

"Video games are fine," Nico said, mostly because he was convinced that agreeing with the latter option would be a date and –a date. A date with Percy Jackson? No, no, no. Abort mission, abort mission. Don't get too close, di Angelo, because those tingly feelings might resurface and you do not want to crush on Percy for the second time. That would just be pathetic.

Percy nodded. "All right. Do you want me to order some pizza?"

"I'm not really that hungry," Nico murmured, but Percy was already reaching for the phone, so it didn't matter.

He sighed.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Hanging out platonically with Percy was, well. It was all right. It was better than all right, really. Nico finally felt like he had an actual friend. It wasn't like Hazel and Bianca, who loved him but spent time with him for the primary reason that they were siblings. It wasn't like Jason Grace and Frank Zhang, who liked him well enough, but were only friends with him because they had been friends with Hazel first.

Percy –well, Nico had to admit that maybe the only reason Percy was spending time with him was because Nico didn't have any other friends, but the difference was that he knew Percy, and Percy knew him. It was good.

Percy would order pizza, and Nico would roll his eyes, say it wasn't real pizza, but take a slice from the box anyway.

Nico would kick his ass in any video game Percy dared to play with him.

The more time the younger teen spent with Percy Jackson, the more Nico realized that he would feel stirrings. He ignored them at first, dismissing them as leftover feelings from a long-ago crush.

But as months passed and the closer friends they became, the more Nico would catch himself gazing at Percy while the older boy was attempting to concentrate on his homework. Percy's dark eyebrows furrowed, he would bite his lower lip, and his sea-green eyes would be clouded, thinking of too many things at once, focused and distracted all at once –and Nico would have to tear his eyes away.

Or other times, they would be together in complete silence, and Nico would listen to the other's breathing, finding peace in the steady rhythm.

It was in these quiet moments in which Nico would feel his stomach twist uncomfortably, a tugging deep inside of him, and his limbs would go limp, and his bones would feel like they were being pulled away from his body, almost like magnets being attracted to their opposite pole –and his magnet seemed to be one Percy Jackson.

The feelings steadily became more difficult to ignore, until one day Percy sat next to him at lunch, just like he always did, and Nico's heart had the audacity to quicken its pace. He felt elated and nervous and nauseous and this wouldn't do.

"Hey," Percy said, completely oblivious to Nico's warring emotions, "are you going to eat your French fries?"

And, crush on Percy or no, if there was one thing Nico would not ever let Percy have, it was a bite of his French fries.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Nico tried to pull away after that. Tried to avoid Percy Jackson, which had been his plan in the first place. The freshman attempted to straighten himself out, get back on track. But it never lasted long. He would always run right back to the older teen, feeling that he would need those green eyes on him and that wide smile directed at him otherwise he might die. Feeling as though Percy had some sort of gravitational pull, tugging him closer and closer.

There was the problem. The fact was, he could live just fine without Percy Jackson in his life. He'd done it before, hadn't he? Nico had gone years without so much as looking at Percy.

No, it wasn't that Nico needed Percy. It was that he missed him, wanted him around so much it caused him near physical pain. He loved Percy, wanted to be around him with such ferocity that in his own mind, he confused the want with need.

The bell rang, starting Nico out of his thoughts. He'd been too busy thinking about Percy and pining after him, he'd almost completely missed the lesson.

"What did I miss?" he asked the student beside him, who was packing up her things.

"You weren't asleep," she sneered.

"I know, but I zoned out. Sorry. What did I miss?"

Her gaze softened slightly; all students had their daydreams, after all. But Geometry class was not a class where you wanted to zone out. She gave him a brief summary of what they had learned that day, then rushed out of the class.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

The next Saturday night (or Sunday morning?), Nico lay in bed. The day's events replayed over and over in his mind as he stared at the alarm clock on his nightstand, which read 3:41 AM. He was fuming with anger, but also chilled to the bone with a feeling that had a few similarities to despair.

He couldn't get Percy out of his head. He couldn't get what happened earlier out of his head.

"This is Annabeth, my girlfriend. She lives in Virginia with her father, but she came up to New York to visit her mother and me for Spring Break!" Percy told him excitedly, holding the beautiful curly blond-haired girl. Her gray eyes were sparkling with interest and analyzed Nico. It was slightly unnerving.

"Hello," Nico greeted politely and somewhat shyly, holding out his hand for Annabeth to shake. He tried to ignore the stabbing pain in his heart as he noticed the way Percy looked at his girlfriend.

Annabeth grinned. "I've heard a lot about you."

Nico heard a lot about Annabeth as well, but it was a long-distance relationship, so he had hoped that he either never had to meet Annabeth, or that they would soon split.

Finally meeting Annabeth made him realize that it was harder to hate her than he would have thought. She was smart, kind, and energetic. Her smile was gentle and friendly.

"Now my best friend and my girlfriend have met!" said Percy proudly, reaching over to Nico and resting his hand on the younger teen's arm. Heat instantly made Nico's skin flush into a noticeable shade of red.

Nico buried himself further into his blankets and comforter, and closed his eyes.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Annabeth left a week later, with promises to come back to New York for the summer. Percy seemed a bit put out by it, but Nico tried to keep his friend's spirits up. It happened to work, because the third time Nico beat him at video games that night, Percy laughed and threw an arm around his shoulder, causing the younger teen to freeze in place for a moment before forcing himself to relax.

Percy rolled out Nico's sleeping bag on the floor, and he felt his heart squeeze before he realized how keeping his feelings to himself would be the death of him.

The problem was, how could he tell Percy? Fully knowing the other was in a relationship, knowing that Percy would reject him? He'd rather carry this weight with him than have to suffer through being let down.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

As much as he wanted to keep it to himself, it was killing him. It was even worse now with Percy's incredibly kind glances. It made Nico's stomach twist itself into knots that he was sure he would never be able to untangle. Hell, screw the glances. What was up with Percy suddenly invading his personal space more than strictly necessary?

Percy had always been a rather physical person, but he tried to respect Nico's boundaries. As they got to reconcile their friendship, Nico began allowing more and more physical contact, no matter how it made his skin burn and his heart ache. But now it was ridiculous.

It was May when Nico realized he honestly had no choice.

They were together in Percy's room, listening to music blasting from the radio. Nico was trying to work on homework while Percy was lying on his bed, texting.

Suddenly Nico jerked his head up to Percy, needing to break the silence between them or he'd go insane. "Percy?"

"Hmm?" he asked, setting down his phone and peering over the edge of the bed where Nico was sitting on the floor with his legs criss-cross-apple-sauce, Geometry textbook at his feet.

"I –" he faltered and began to fidget, playing with the ring his father had given him a few years ago. "I need to talk to you about something."

Percy frowned and muted the radio. He patted the bed next to him, and Nico got up and sat beside the older teen. "What's up? Is there anything wrong? Bullies?"

"N-no," Nico stuttered. "No bullies."

"Then what's it about?"

He bit his lip. "I –um, I—"

Nico couldn't get out the words. His heart was hammering against his ribcage, and his pulse was making his head pound. His throat was suddenly very dry. Nico's stomach twisted itself in ways that made him feel incredibly nauseous. In short, he felt very faint and he wasn't sure at all if he could even go through with this.

Percy reached out and touched Nico's arm in a gesture that was meant to be reassuring. It only made his skin burn and dried his mouth until Nico was sure that his tongue had been replaced by a desert. "Nico, you can tell me anything. You know that, right?"

"I should probably just tell you later. You're busy texting Annabeth and I'm doing homework, and I'm failing Geometry so—"

"Nico," said Percy sternly, leaning in closer.

Was Percy always this close to him? Jesus, how hadn't he noticed? Nico found himself leaning in closer, pulled in by some unknown force. His head spun as it dawned on him that Percy too was moving even closer.

Nico could already feel the electricity coursing through him. He was nervous and excited and what he thought was about to happen couldn't actually be what he thought was about to happen, but they hadn't stopped moving closer yet, and how many seconds had passed already? He wasn't sure, he was just willing it to happen with every bone in his body; just an inch and their lips would touch—

Percy's sea-green eyes cleared and he pulled away violently, his hand flying up to his forehead. "Oh, fuck," he breathed out, scooting as far away from Nico on the bed as possible. "Nico, I am so sorry, shit, I—"

The younger teen gathered his things, trying not to shake with the effort of keeping his emotions in check. He hurried out of Percy's house without a word, embarrassed and heartbroken. He didn't even notice the tears falling down his face until he was halfway home. He ran inside his house and slammed the door behind him. He rushed into his room, where he dropped all of his things on the floor and climbed into his bed, wrapping the comforter around him as if it would provide a barrier from him and his emotions. Of course, it didn't work.

How could he have allowed himself to get so close? He could have tried harder to keep away. The second he realized that his feelings were growing more romantic in nature, he should have pulled away, cut all ties to Percy. But stupidly, he hadn't.

At the same time, would it have helped anyway? To cut Percy out of his life? Would it have magically made his feelings disappear, or would his hopeless pining only become stronger the more time he spent away from the junior?

Either way, he was falling more and more in love and getting closer and closer –and it hurt ten times as more after today, because he knew for certain that his affections were not, in fact, returned; or if they were, even a little, it didn't matter because Percy chose Annabeth in the end.

The worst part was that Nico doubted that even after today, he wouldn't be able to stay away from Percy. He'd continue to be his friend, and they'd pretend that nothing had happened. And Nico would continue to get closer and closer to Percy. Closer and closer, but never quite there.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Nico ripped his Geometry homework in two.

He was failing. The F wouldn't hurt as much as his heart did already.

Well, that happened.

Idk what was going on in Percy's head but by the way I wrote him I can only assume that he 1) had no clue what was going on until the very last second or 2) was totally going to kiss Nico until he remembered Annabeth (the kiss would have just been dear Percy experimenting with his sexuality, and once he realized that this probably was no joke for Nico, he put a stop to it). ;-;

Parallels is up next and it's probably either going to be SUPER DUPER LONG or INCREDIBLY SHORT. :)

~Coqui's Song