And so we come to the end of the story. This is going to be the last chapter, but have no fear, because I have other plans to come soon. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to get started on, though. As it is nearing Halloween, I feel like my Jasico zombie fic would be better suited for the oncoming theme. We shall see.

It was a little after nine when Nico stumbled his way into the kitchen. Jason looked up from his cup of coffee with a slight frown. He hadn't slept much last night, and eventually he had just gotten out of bed to watch some TV. The blond was now on his third cup of coffee.

He had been trying to clear his head and think, but the sight of Nico coming into the kitchen in one of Jason's old shirts made it rather difficult. Jason's brow furrowed. He must have left that in there from a past night. Either way, Jason had to quickly avert his gaze as Nico walked by him. The boy also had not put on any shorts. It was that or Jason's shirt was hiding them.

Jason's cheeks tinged pink as he witnessed reach up into a cabinet for his cereal box, which had exposed his red boxer-briefs to Jason's eyes. Okay, so Nico was definitely not wearing shorts. Nico smiled lazily at Jason as he poured himself a bowl of cereal. From the way Nico would occasionally rub his head, Jason could only assume Nico had a slight hangover. Which meant that Nico probably didn't remember the events of last night.

Without thinking about it, Jason's blue eyes followed Nico's form across the room, watching as the boy sat down on the couch. The TV was turned on a second later. The blond rubbed his face as Nico tried to find something to watch. As much as Nico probably deserved to know what had happened, Jason wasn't sure he was ready to have the talk just yet. Perhaps the events of last night were better off forgotten.

"Jason?"

The blond blinked and looked up, only to find his roommate staring at him in concern. "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

Nico let out a sigh. "I said, do you want to watch cartoons?"

With a lopsided grin, Jason got up from his bar stool. "You're actually offering to let me watch cartoons?"

"There's nothing to watch," Nico mumbled, rolling his eyes. The blond plopped down beside him, grinning as he immediately swapped to his desired channel. "I feel like shit."

"You had a lot to drink last night."

"It was all Rachel's fault," the raven-haired boy groaned. Jason's face heated up as the boy fell over on Jason's shoulder. Gulping, the blond looked down. Nico calmly ate the rest of his cereal, his eyes glued to the TV. "I feel sick."

He felt of Nico's head. "You feel fine, probably just need rest." Placing his mug on the coffee table, Jason reached behind him to grab a small blanket they kept there. Nico narrowed his eyes as Jason draped it over it. "Do you remember anything?"

"Just talking." Nico set his empty cereal bowl onto the coffee table as well, settling in beside Jason. The blond brushed some of Nico's bangs out of his eyes as the boy rested his head on Jason's shoulder. "I don't even really remember getting home."

Jason kept telling himself to breath calmly. Perhaps there was some truth to what others said about him and Nico. Maybe they really did act like a couple. Before he realized what he was doing, Jason had laid them both down, so that Nico could rest better. Letting out a sigh, Jason let his arm rest around Nico's waist. What was he supposed to do? Now that it had been pointed out to him, it was all Jason could think about.

After about twenty minutes, Nico's breathing softened. Jason's eyebrows rose as he noted this. Looking down, sure enough, Nico was fast asleep. The blond scrunched his lips as he observed his roommate. When asleep, Nico always looked younger. Not that he didn't always look young, but Nico's features were much softer when he slept.

All of this was brought to a halt when Jason's phone began to ring. Silently cursing under his breath, Jason managed to climb out from behind Nico. He let out a yelp as his foot caught on the blanket and went tumbling to the floor. With a groan, Jason pushed himself up and went to retrieve his phone.

"Yeah?" The blond sighed.

"Jason!" Came Leo's happy voice. "So, how did things go? The word from Rachel is that you got your eyes complimented by the giggly mess that you took home last night."

Jason sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I swear, all of you need to find something else to gossip about."

"Jason, I need you to win me the bet. So, do a guy a favor and go in there and plant one on your roommate." There was a brief pause. "I mean, unless you already did. Did you take advantage of him?"

"No!" Jason exclaimed. He sighed and sat down on one of the bar stools in the kitchen. "Why are you guys betting on if Nico and I will hook up."

"Well, technically Annabeth says you're going to date him. Rachel and I are betting on when you'll...you know, see to his overdue needs."

Letting his head fall back, Jason groaned. "We are not going to talk about this."

"What happened?"

Jason quickly glanced over at the couch. Not that he could see anything, since he could only see the back of it from where he sat. "He just had a lot to drink, he probably didn't even mean the things he said." Leaning forward, Jason propped his chin up with his palm. "Well, he kind of said I have a nice butt. And, well, he kind of kissed me."

There was a pause. Frowning, Jason pulled his phone away to check if Leo was still there. He was. And then, from the other end of the phone, Jason heard laughter. The blond let out a sigh as he buried his face against the counter. This was a nightmare. Why was he friends with Leo again?

"That's awesome, man!" Leo chuckled. "So, did you kiss him back?"

"No—I mean, yes, sort of." The blond groaned. "I wasn't thinking, it just sort of happened. I didn't mean to kiss him back. I don't even know why I did it." Sitting up, Jason rubbed his face. "Leo, what do I do?"

"Why is this bothering you? You told me yourself that you wouldn't be opposed to dating a guy?"

A shuffling from the couch caught Jason's attention. "Um, let me call you back," he said in a hushed tone. Not even waiting for a reply, Jason hung up. Standing up, Jason walked back over to the couch. Nico rolled onto his back and blinked groggily up at him. "You should go back to sleep."

The boy frowned up at him. Nico stared at him curiously for a long moment. "I'm fine," the brown-eyed boy finally whispered. He sat up before getting off the couch and walking to his room. "I'm going to get a shower, and then I'm going to go out."

"Oh." Jason blinked in confusion as his eyes followed after the boy. Was something wrong? "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Nico muttered before shutting the bathroom door.

The smell of coffee filled his nose as Nico buried his face in his palms. Annabeth, who sat across from him at the coffee shop, raised an eyebrow as she sipped at her coffee. "I'm an idiot," Nico groaned, letting his head drop to the table.

"You're not an idiot, you were drunk."

"Same difference," Nico hissed. He sat up and picked up his coffee, sipping lightly at it. "I mean, it wasn't bad enough that I had to compliment his ass, I had to go and suck face with him."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and put her coffee down. "Did he sound mad?"

"No, but Jason doesn't really get mad." In reality, Jason had never been mad at Nico. Not once. Even when Nico was angry with him about the shooting, Jason took it all quietly. "And why is there a fucking bet circulating about the two of us?"

"Oh." Annabeth lightly shrugged. "That was sort of Rachel's idea. And, well, from there, Leo and Thalia got involved."

"You joined them!"

The blonde tilted her head to the side. "Look at it this way, I actually bet that you'd date before you two had sex. At least I have faith in your self-respect."

The truth was, if Jason wasn't such a good friend to Nico, he probably would have had sex with Jason a long time ago. Jason was the constant in Nico's life, which made him accessible. And when Nico had been severely depressed and coping with alcohol, Jason sort of made it easy to take advantage of. Not that Nico ever did.

And ever since that night on their balcony, Nico could not stop thinking about how much Jason reminded him of Percy. The bright side was that at least Jason wasn't so oblivious. Percy and Nico had been friends for as long as Nico could remember, and Percy still needed a smacking from Annabeth to realize that Nico liked him. But a lot of the qualities were the same, starting with Jason's hero complex. Part of that was what scared Nico so much about these developing feelings. What if he fell for Jason, and something bad happened to take the blond away from him? Jason would be the hero, just like Percy. There was not a doubt in Nico's mind that it wasn't true.

With a heavy intake of coffee, Nico sat back in his seat and sighed. "This is a nightmare. What if he doesn't want to be roommates anymore?"

"Nico," Annabeth began, reaching across the table to grab his hand, "you need to calm down. Jason is too nice to do something like that. He also isn't homophobic. The guy walks around in a towel and his underwear in front of you, and doesn't even consider that you'd do anything to him. Why would he care if you liked him?"

"It would make things awkward." Nico chewed on his lip. "He's probably not going to want to touch me now. I've made things awkward between us."

Annabeth let out a sigh. "You worried about this exact same thing when you first told me about your crush on Percy."

"I'm sorry about that, by the way."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "I knew we weren't going to work out, Nico. The guy spent more time with you, plus I didn't have the time for him. Not that it probably would have mattered." She shook her head and sipped at her coffee. "My point is that Jason isn't going to care. But my advice is to go talk to him about this. If you want to avoid it being awkward, I think you need to get this conversation out of the way. And it's only going to be awkward because I know you'll make it awkward."

If it weren't true, Nico would have been offended.

Placing her hands on the table, Annabeth pursed her lips. "Look, Nico, I have watched you and Jason for the past few years. I seriously don't think it's going to bother him. In fact, I'd be surprised if he wasn't okay with it, and he might actually consider being more than friends with you. But you won't know if you don't try."

A groan was the girl's only response. Jason was an understanding guy, Nico knew that. But this wasn't the same as with Percy. It was the fact that Jason was understanding that was the problem. Deep down, Nico knew that Jason probably wouldn't care, but if the blond kept their interactions the same, Nico wasn't sure how he was going to manage surviving.

But perhaps he was just as much to blame. Just earlier, Nico had been sleeping on the blond, but that had been before he woke up to Jason's phone call. And Annabeth was right, Jason had a habit of walking around without that much clothing when they didn't have company over.

Jason just woke up? Just in his boxers. Just out of the shower? Jason would only be in a towel. Needing to look professional for something at school? The blond had no issues with changing in front of Nico for his opinion. Why did Jason have to be so comfortable around Nico? Perhaps that was worse than Jason reacting badly to Nico's news.

But, most of all, Nico was afraid of hearing Jason's response. More than likely, Jason was going to reject him, and tell Nico that he didn't mean anything by the way he acted around Nico. Perhaps Jason would even start trying to mind what he did, which would only be more painful.

Staring down at his coffee, Nico seriously wished it was a bottle of alcohol. No real presence, as long as it was strong. "Can't I just ignore it?"

Annabeth let out a long sigh, her grey eyes glaring at Nico. "Just fucking do it. It won't be that bad, trust me." Standing up, Annabeth adjusted the small jacket she wore over her shirt. "Nico, you need to get out of this mind set where you believe that you can never be happy again." She placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "It's time to move on, but that doesn't mean forgetting about the love you lost. Jason is a good guy, and if he likes you back, then I have no doubt that he will treat you right."

Nico slowly nodded. He chewed on his lip, his eyes locked on his coffee. "Thanks, Annabeth."

After Annabeth was gone, Nico stayed at the coffee shop for another ten minutes. He had always best handled his problems by avoiding them, and Nico supposed old habits were hard to break. After he had confessed his feelings for Percy, Nico had avoided his friend for a week before Percy came to Nico's home and confronted the boy. And Nico had done nothing but fumble over his words. It had been so bad that he had only stopped when Percy kissed him.

During that time, Nico tried to run through what he was going to say to Jason. He got some strange looks, as would be imagined for someone that sat in a coffee shop talking to himself. When he finally worked up the courage, Nico slowly made his way back to his and Jason's apartment.

Jason was at their small dining table when Nico got back, hovering over some homework that needed to be finished. When the door closed, Jason blinked up from the table. "Hi," the blond said softly.

"Hi," Nico muttered, placing his keys on a small table they kept by the door. Taking in a breath, Nico sat down across from Jason. "Can we talk, or are you busy?"

Jason shrugged and closed his textbook. "Nothing that can't wait. What's up?"

Nico slowly rubbed his palms together. He was not drunk enough for this talk, not that he had anything at all to drink yet. But the alcohol they kept in the fridge was starting to sound very appealing to him. "So, um, I heard the funniest thing while I was having coffee with Annabeth."

The blond's eyebrows rose. "Oh? What was that?"

The raven-haired boy cleared his throat. "Um, well, they seem to have this weird idea in their head, and basically they, uh, came up with this bet."

"Oh. That."

"Yeah," Nico whispered. "Apparently there's a bet over if we'd have sex. Dumb, right?"

Jason scrunched his lips. "Yeah." The corners of his lips tilted up. "I mean, it's not like I'd just have sex with you if you asked. Which I know you wouldn't ask that."

"No, of course not." Nico cleared his throat and looked away, fully aware of the frown that formed on his roommate's face when he did so. "That would be dumb." Running a hand through his hair, Nico stood up. "Um, I think I'm going to go lie down."

Jason stood up as Nico walked towards his room. "Are you okay?"

No, Nico wanted to reply, but he didn't. Jason had only confirmed what he already knew. As Jason called out his name, Nico slammed the door to his room and locked it. Taking in a deep breath, Nico pressed his back to the door. Why was he so stupid? Why did he have to have this type, why did he have to fall for guys like Jason and Percy?

There were two things that gave it away that Nico was mad at Jason. Well, three, if Jason counted the slammed door. When the blond had tried to ask Nico what he wanted for dinner, Jason was met with silence. At the time, Jason had figured Nico might have been taking a nap, but then Nico still didn't answer him when Jason attempted to get him to come eat.

Which was how Jason ended up standing outside his roommate's door with his head pressed against it. "Nico, will you just come out and talk to me?" There wasn't a response. The blond was starting to worry. He had seen enough movies to fear what a prolonged silence might mean.

But what had he done wrong? And Jason knew that it was him that had upset Nico, since he was the last person that Nico had spoken to. He knew Nico would probably kill him for breaking down the door, but the option was starting to sound very appealing right now. And the longer Jason went without getting a response only made it worse.

Which was what brought him to the threat. "Nico, if you don't talk to me, I'm going to break down this door. If you even think about-"

Letting out a yelp, Jason fell to the floor as the door was opened. Nico frowned down at him. "Think about what?" The boy rolled his eyes at the serious look Jason gave him. "Suicide? Do I look like some fifteen year old? I'm not going to fucking kill myself because I got rejected by-"

"What?"

Nico sighed and turned around, walking farther into his room to sit down on his bed. "I really don't feel like talking right now, Jason. I'd rather forget about today and last night all together."

"Last night?" Jason blinked. "Wait, you remember?"

"No," Nico confessed, "but I heard you talking on the phone."

"Oh." Frowning, the blond rubbed the back of his neck. "I thought you were still asleep." Jason took a step into the room. "It doesn't bother me with happened, just so you know. You were drunk. I'm sure it was all just drunk talk."

Nico remained quiet. Jason blinked. The boy sat on his bed, gripping his sheets tightly. Oh. Well, perhaps it wasn't the alcohol then. There was a look of pain in Nico's dark eyes when he looked up at Jason, it nearly tore out his heart.

"Nico-"

"Don't," Nico whispered. He looked down, hiding his eyes from Jason's watchful gaze. "Please, just go."

Jason pursed his lips, but didn't budge from his spot. "Nico, why are you upset? Is it about what I said to you earlier?" Nico gave a small nod. Jason tilted his head to the side. Why was Nico upset about that? "Why? I told you that I wouldn't have sex with you. You're my friend, why would I do that?"

"I know," Nico sighed. "It's not a big deal. See, the others were wrong. I'm stupid for having feelings for you. I shouldn't, I know that." The boy shook his head. "You really don't have to say it. I guess they all get to lose the bet."

Tilting his head to the side, Jason crouched down in front of Nico. "Am I missing something here?" Nico still wouldn't look at him. "Since when is saying you wouldn't fuck your best friend a bad thing? I thought you knew I had too much respect for you to do something like that. You're not the type to just hook up with guys, and I wouldn't want to hurt you like that."

Nico blinked at him in awe, though Jason could see the beginning signs of tears in the boy's eyes. Crisis narrowly averted. "Oh," Nico said eloquently. "I-I guess I just didn't think about it like that. You were...just answering my question."

"Yeah." The corners of the blond's lips tilted up. "If anyone would win the bet, it would be Annabeth, from what I hear." Rubbing Nico's head, Jason climbed to his feet.

It took Nico a moment, but his eyes eventually widened. "Wait, what?"

Turning around, Jason scratched his cheek. "Well, yeah. You asked me if I would have sex with you, not if I'd ever consider dating you." He smiled as Nico's eyes widened. "Were you really that scared of me rejecting you? I feel honored."

"Shut up, Grace," Nico muttered, narrowing his eyes. He shook his head. "Why are you so casual about this?"

Jason shrugged. "Well, since I couldn't sleep last night, I sort of found myself putting a lot of thought into this question. And then you ran off earlier, and then ignored me when I was cooking dinner, so it's not like I haven't had time to think about things. My question is: why?"

"Why what?"

Letting out a sigh, Jason licked his lips, motioning to himself. "Why me? We've tried to find you someone for a while now, and you've not been interested in any of them. So, why me?"

It was clear from the boy's expression that he hadn't been expecting Jason to ask that. The kid probably hadn't even considered the possibility of Jason not rejecting him. For as long as he had known Nico, Jason knew that the brown-eyed by self-confidence was never that high.

"I...guess I just have some high standards for what I want in a guy." Nico gulped and looked up at the blond in front of him, fear clear in his eyes. "It's a dumb thing, since it was some fluke that I even landed Percy in the first place."

"You shouldn't say that," Jason whispered.

"I'm scared, okay? I'm scared about even liking you, because the last thing I would want is to like you solely because you share the same qualities as Percy." Nico chewed on his lip, his knuckles white from gripping the edge of his bed. "But, I mean, that was even if you liked me back. I mean, look at you and then look at me."

Letting out a breath, Jason took a step towards Nico. "Dude, you're a great guy, you shouldn't beat yourself up. And I don't understand why you think you don't look good." His lips tilted up in a smirk. "I'd say you're pretty attractive if you can make a supposed straight guy question his sexuality."

Nico rolled his eyes. "You're such a dork." The raven-haired boy let out a sigh. "But that's just for starters. What if this is just some phase for you? What if we are just both rebounding? I mean, you haven't really tried to date anyone either since the shooting." Nico looked down with a frown. "You're a great guy, and sweet. How would anyone not want a guy like that? What if it becomes awkward? Jason, I really don't think we are thinking this-"

Wanting to put an end to his roommate's endless rambles, Jason leaned in and pressed their lips together. A small yelp escaped the smaller youth's mouth as the two tumbled backwards, Jason landing on top of Nico. Jason pressed his hands against the mattress to lift himself off of his friend.

"Sorry," Jason breathed out, "but you weren't going to shut up."

"I... Um, you...I—you kissed me!"

A soft chuckle escaped Jason's lips as he sat up. "I see you're observant." He sighed as Nico sat up beside him. "If I still need to say it, I think I'm willing to give this a try, if you are that is."

"Yeah," Nico said breathlessly. He pressed his lips together as he gawked at the blond beside him. "I, um... Can we do that again?"

Smiling, Jason nodded and leaned back in. Their lips met and Jason closed his eyes. He placed a hand on the back of the raven-haired boy's head, drawing him closer. One of Nico's hands came to rest against Jason's chest as their lips moved against each other.

Nico was startled awake at the sound of thunder. He jolted up, though something heavy weighed down on his stomach. Looking down, his breath still ragged, Nico found an arm. Following it up, Nico found Jason still sound asleep. The blond's mouth was slightly open, and puffs of air came out. His arm had been draped across Nico as he laid splayed out on his stomach.

While Nico was bad about hogging most of the bed, the younger boy always woke up to find Jason touching him in some way. Nico's shoulders relaxed as he watched the blond's angelic face. Nico was not the biggest fan of storms. Rain was fine, it was soothing to listen to while falling asleep, but thunder and lightning was a different matter entirely.

The months had slowly passed by since their talk. Annabeth had ended up winning the bet, much to the disappointment of Leo, Rachel, and Thalia. Fall semester was over for the two, and it was already halfway through the spring semester. Nico wasn't sure if they had really had a night since then that the two didn't sleep together. And, with the way Jason was talking, they were going to look for a one bedroom apartment over the summer.

It scared Nico a little, if he were being honest with himself. But this was what he wanted all along, wasn't it? For the first time in a long time, Nico felt like his life was wholly back on track again. Part of him was still scared that he was just doing this because Jason reminded him of Percy. Nico just tried to reassure himself that it was the simple fact that he was afraid of it being true that made it untrue. Annabeth herself had said Nico shouldn't worry, and Nico had learned by now to trust her judgment.

He wasn't afraid of replacing Percy anymore, though. It wasn't about that, and Percy wouldn't want him to hurt himself by not trying to find someone else to love. Percy would want him to be happy, and Jason made him happy.

Unfortunately, their group of friends were already plotting out a new bet. This time it was when a proposal happen. And when Jason had heard about it, the tips of the blond's ears had turned pink. However, when Annabeth had gotten involved in the bet, Nico had made it clear to Jason that there would be no marriage until school was over.

Speaking of school, Nico's grades had shot up substantially since the previous semester. He also had an idea for what he wanted to do for a project at the end of the semester. For the past few weeks, Nico had been hard at work on a portrait of Percy. And when school ended, Nico planned to bring it back to the apartment. That or give it to Sally, Nico really hadn't decided.

Percy would always hold a place in Nico's heart, and Jason knew that. Jason said he didn't care and that he wouldn't want to take Percy's place. But, as Nico was starting to realize, his heart was big enough to love someone else.

Letting out a sigh, Nico ran his hand through Jason's short hair. The blond mumbled for a moment before his eyes fluttered open. He smiled up at Nico, his arm tightening around the boy's waist. Nico smiled as he was pulled against Jason's chest.

"Couldn't sleep?" Jason mumbled into Nico's hair.

"Thunder woke me up." The raven-haired boy's eyes drifted closed as Jason pressed their lips together for a quick kiss. "Sorry for waking you up."

A soft smile appeared on the blond's lips. "I don't mind." He squeezed Nico tighter, causing the other boy to groan. Jason let out a chuckle. "Sorry. Do I need to let you go?"

Pressing a hand to Jason's cheek, Nico leaned up to kiss his boyfriend again. After they parted, Nico rested his head on Jason's bare chest and closed his eyes, enjoying the sound of the blond's heartbeat. "No, don't let me go."

Well, that's the end. It was never going to be a long story, just something to take my mind off my larger projects every now and then. I think it also helped me by having something I could finish quickly, since it's not very often that I see an end to one of my stories. That being said, I hope to see you all soon with another Jasico fic. I do hope you all enjoyed it. Now I'm going to go back to my main story, so that I can answer the big question everyone is wanting to know in my Children of Loss story.