PJatO || Nicercy || PJatO || Nicercy || A Good Catch || Nicercy || PJatO || Nicercy || PJatO

Title: A Good Catch – Everybody Wants Him

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians; post series; no Heroes of Olympus

Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Rick Riordan for he created the awesomeness that is Nico di Angelo. And everything else related to Percy Jackson and the Olympians, likewise the Heroes of Olympus. Aside from the Gods, of course. They are all copyright by the old Greeks. The story in itself though is entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.

Warnings: shounen-ai, betting, everybody wants Percy

Main Pairing: Nico/Percy - and I DO mean Nico/Percy and not Percy/Nico!

Side Pairings: Grover/Juniper, Chris/Clarisse, Luke/Percy (past), Percy/Annabeth (past), Hades/Persephone, Heracles/Percy, Ares/Percy, Apollo/Percy, Hephaestus/Percy, Dionysus/Percy, Triton/Percy

Percy Jackson Characters: Perseus Jackson, Nico di Angelo, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Clarisse la Rue, Juniper, Grover Underwood, Chiron, Hermes, Heracles, Persephone, Demeter, Hades

Summary: Nico wants Percy. Hades and Persephone agree with that. The rest of Olympus seem to disagree. Zeus is angered and doesn't want an union between the sea and the underworld, so he's trying to set Percy up with one of his own children. What totally freaks Percy out, because the poor boy has no freaking clue what the Hades is going on. It's getting worse when his stepmother decides to intervene, too. What is one very confused son of Poseidon supposed to do? And before you bother, as always I take some liberties with Nico. Because him bleaching out in the underworld is the most stupid thing Rick Riordan ever did. That's not the way things work. Would Hazel have bleached out, too if she would have stayed down there? Is that what had happend to Michael Jackson all those years ago? Really now.

A Good Catch

Everybody Wants Him

The sky growled angrily, thunder and lightning rolling over the gray darkness, rain pouring down on three young women. The ground shook harshly, the whole world seemed to end. A ginger stared down onto a deep scar on the path in worry, the brunette girl next to her knitted her eyebrows and stared up into the sky, both crossed their arms over their chests.

"I wonder what's wrong...", muttered the red-haired girl.

"Yeah. The last time the Big Three had been this angry was when the Lightning Bolt and the Helmet of Darkness had been stolen", grunted her friend deep in thought.

"Something big is going on", commented a green-skinned nymph.

All three shuddered at the icy cold rain that hit their skin. They were standing at the outer skirts of the forest, all dressed in shirts and shorts, all counting on it being summer. Though, the gods didn't do summer this year, or so it seemed. The forest was dark, darker than it used to be, the sun was hiding behind the big clouds and everyone at camp feared that the situation would worsen some more; the first hurricane warnings had been given on the west coast, an earthquake had shaken the whole east coast and the lightning strikes in central America had hit new records.

"Hey there, girls!", called an olive-skinned boy, running over to them.

"Di Angelo, fancy seeing you here. How come you're always only at camp during summer?", questioned the brunette curiously, hiding a smirk.

"Well, Clarisse, if I had to guess, I would say it has something to do with our favorite rescuer of Olympus", mused the ginger cheekily.

The other two girls laughed softly at that and the boy huffed in annoyance. He knitted his eyebrows and stared up into the sky in wonder.

"Say, what's going on here? That's camp. It never rains, unless we want it to", grunted Nico.

"That's what we've been wondering, too", sighed the nymph.

"Yeah. Don't you know what's going on? I mean, you're living in your father's palace, didn't you hear something about what kind of quarrel is going on between the three brothers?"

"Sorry, Rachel, no such thing. Though, shortly after 'Phone had left for her mother's place, dad grew even antsier and more irritated than usually", grunted the son of Hades.

"And I can even tell you why, you moron!", interrupted another male voice.

The four teens whirled around, facing the satyr behind them, who had his hands stemmed into his hips. He looked angered and stared at the olive-skinned half-blood.

"What are you looking at me like that for, Grover?", asked Nico with one raised eyebrow.

"Well, as the Lord of the Wild I've been spending some time at Olympus, too", started Grover, motioning for them to follow him. "You obviously told your father and your stepmother about your feelings for Percy." Nico's eyebrows shot up in wonder, asking silently how the satyr could know. "Lady Persephone had been... talkative. That's what started the fight. Lord Zeus is enraged that you're in love with Percy, he fears to loose something very important with that."

"His alliance with Percy's father", acknowledged Juniper and snuggled under one of her boyfriend's arms, smiling at him.

"Exactly. He and Lord Poseidon had been allies in every bigger fight between the brothers. If you, as the most favored child of Hades ever, and Percy, as Poseidon's favorite child, would get involved with each other, Poseidon would feel obliged to take Lord Hades' side from now on."

"So, who exactly is fighting with who?", asked the daughter of Ares concerned.

"Mainly it's Hades against Zeus, though Poseidon ain't thrilled by either of them. He doesn't like the idea of Nico being with Percy, because he's still worried about Percy after the whole Annabeth-fiasco. But he's also angry at Zeus for trying to dictate him who his son should date. The other gods have opened a betting pool on Percy's future love-life, by the way. And I have my money on you, so you better get moving soon", explained the Lord of the Wild.

"Okay, so what? How is this going to end, seriously? This sounds like, regardless of whoever gets together with Percy in the end, a war would break loose, because the other brother would be pissed", muttered the oracle worried.

"We'll have to see about that", sighed Grover. "Though it's not looking good for Nico."

"Why?", asked Clarisse curiously.

"Because Lord Zeus is trying his darn best to prevent Percy from falling for him."

"How?", wanted Juniper to know, her eyebrows knitted in worry.

"Wel—Percy!", interrupted the satyr himself.

The five had just entered camp again and were spotting a very irritated and sore looking son of Poseidon in front of his cabin, looking around in paranoia. His sea-green eyes were wide in wonder when he stared at them, just before they were filled with relief and a smile spread over his – at least in the Ghost Prince's opinion – perfect, full, rosy lips, which certainly would feel so good on Nico's own, would feel even better wrapped around another body-part of the half-Italian. The son of Hades licked his own lips absentmindedly, trying to suppress the images that tried to sneak into his mind. His friends were right, he was utterly and utmost in love with Percy Jackson. Had been ever since he had first laid eyes on the hero, though back than it had been more like worshiping an idol. It grew into more, friendship, trust, love. The war had forged them together and ever since the war had ended four years ago, Nico tried to spend as much time with the son of the Sea God as possible. It was hard, especially during Percy's short-lived relationship with Annabeth and even more so after their breakup, because the Sea Prince was hurt badly by this. It was kind of a shocker to everyone when the hero of Olympus came out as gay during the last summer.

Percy ran up to them and jumped the son of Hades, who wrapped his arms around the by now smaller boy's waist and whirled him around. Yes, he enjoyed it very much to tease his Sea Prince about the fact that he was ever since his puberty taller than the son of Poseidon, mostly so because the green-eyed half-blood looked way too cute when he was pouting.

"Gods, you guys won't believe how glad I am to see you!", exclaimed Percy.

"Why? Is something the matter?", asked Clarisse, trying to hide a snicker.

"Oh, you shut up! I've had enough of your father", groaned the son of the Sea God.

"Eh?", blinked the brunette, now genuinely confused.

"Your father", started Percy, looking around before pulling his friends along inside his cabin, closing the door firmly. "Your father tried to fuckill me!"

"To what you?", grunted the daughter of Ares doe-eyed.

"To fuckill me. I'm not sure if he tried to fuck me, or if he tried to kill me. And frankly enough, I'm not sure which one disturbed me more", hissed the son of Poseidon and sat down on his bed.

Clarisse and Rachel sat down on the one bed beside Percy's, while Grover and Juniper sat on the bed on the other side and the son of Hades made himself comfortable behind the green-eyed hero, leaning against the headboard and staring at Percy in confused irritation.

"And that's just the top of the iceberg!", groaned the son of the Sea God and leaned back against the broad chest behind him, snuggling into the comfortable semi-coldness the son of Hades provided.

"What else happened, Perce?", growled Nico, angry at the gods.

"Let's see... Ever since Spring Break I got woken up by Lord Apollo everyday. And I don't mean in the metaphorical way, because he drove the sun over the sky and it's light disturbed my sleep, I mean in the literal way, because he parked his Masarati outside my window and brought me Starbucks coffee, stayed for breakfast and drove me to school. I got driven to school in the fucking sun! And it took me like two months to notice that he was hitting on me", confessed Percy with a vibrant blush, staring everywhere but at his friends.

Nico licked his lips again, enjoying how beautiful the red taint looked on the rather pale skin. Back in the old days, the hero used to be sun-kissed, but most camper were pale these days, because they hadn't seen the sun in a long time. The son of the Death God ran his fingers through thick, black locks, relishing in the soft feeling. Regardless of the less than good news, he couldn't suppress a smile. The silken hair had grown over the Sea Prince's shoulder, even though Percy had always claimed he'd get it cut – until Nico had told him how good the longer hair would look on him.

"Lord Apollo had been hitting on you?", asked Rachel astonished.

"Are you sure?", whispered Juniper wide-eyed.

"Let's see... His hand on my knee, wandering upwards... Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure. And that Adam Lambert was playing all the time wasn't helping either. He even sang 'Music Again' to me!"

Nico fisted the bedsheets in his hand. How dare Apollo touched what was his? He slung his arms possessively around Percy's waist and pulled his Sea Prince closer.

"Okay... That's rather... unusual", agreed Clarisse, still shuddering from the image of her dad with her best friend. That was gross. Just... gross.

"I'm not finished yet, War Princess", muttered Percy.

"Oh goodness, what else did happen?", groaned Rachel and shook her head.

"Well, after Ares so wonderfully failed at seducing me", both he and Clarisse shuddered at the same time. "He invited me to dinner to make up for it. He didn't show up. Instead there was Lord Hephaestus. There was a note for me saying that he was terribly sorry he couldn't make it, but hey, he'd rather spend time with Hephaestus' wife, so why not letting me distract the horned husband? Let's just say that this was the most awkward, irritating and unnerving evening of my life. And no, I'm still not finished."

"Oh, come on. There ain't that much more gods left", grunted the daughter of Ares.

"That's what I thought, too. This year there was that new guy at the university. Handsome, tall, charming. Like the perfect mixture of Ryan Reynolds' body, Keanu Reeves' charisma, Jim Carrey's humor and George Clooney's charm."

"Damn that eternal virgin deal", cursed the ginger underneath her breath.

"Exactly. He was finger-licking hot—Nico? Are you alright? You look like you're in pain?" Percy interrupted himself when he heard the son of Hades clench his teeth hard and threw a worried glance at the olive-skinned teen behind him.

"I'm just peachy. So, what about McDreamy?", growled Nico, trying to suppress the urge to rip someone's throat out, especially considering that he didn't even know the guy.

"Right. Turned out he wasn't just godly looking, he was a god. Better known as a hero, though. Heracles", answered the paler boy, gesturing wildly with his hands. "And damn it, I'm still not finished! So, I've been like totally relieved to get back to camp, because all those horny gods were seriously driving me nuts. Then, when I just arrived at camp, I got greeted by Chiron and Mr. D. And you know what? Mr. D actually called me Percy Jackson. Not Peter Johnson or whatever kind of name with the initials PJ he could come up with. He called me by my actual name. I kind of freaked out and ran. And then I met you guys."

Nico stared at him from the corner of his eyes, taking Percy's profile in. Something was still bothering his Sea Prince, he just couldn't tell what it was.

"Okay, spill the beans, Percy. You're forgetting our empathy link, dude. I can feel that there's something else eating you up", grunted Grover, chewing on a tin can from the nightstand.

"Uh... Yeah, well... You see, I kind of didn't come here to stay..."

"What? Why not?", questioned Rachel confused.

"I'm here because I've been searching for Nico. I tried to IM you, but Lady Iris is only saying to 'please hold the line' whenever I try to reach you. So I guessed my chances were high to find you here", answered the hero of Olympus, turning around a bit to face the son of Hades.

"Well? Why were you searching for me?", asked the Ghost Prince, not questioning the strange behavior of the Rainbow Goddess. She was most likely in cahoots with Zeus.

"I have a huge favor to ask of you", started Percy, fidgeting with his hands.

"It can't be that big", grunted Clarisse, arching one eyebrow.

"I want to stay with you in the underworld for the summer", blurted the Sea Prince out.

"What?", exclaimed the other teens surprised.

"Look, I don't know what the Tartarus is going on, but I've been good enough at our family tree to figure out that Ares, Hephaestus, Apollo, Heracles and Dionysus all have one thing in common – and that is their father. Something is up between my dad and the big boss and I somehow ended in the middle of this. I seriously need a break, I'm wrecked. So I figured I need some time somewhere where neither my dad nor Lord Zeus have any kind of power. What better place is there than your father's palace?", concluded the son of Poseidon, turning big, pleading puppy-eyes on Nico. "Pretty please? Because otherwise I'll go total nuts."

"Why, I wouldn't have thought you'd come up with such a plan", chuckled a voice from the door.

The teens turned to face the newcomer and saw that it were not only Lord Hermes, but also Chiron. Percy groaned and tried to hide more into the embrace of the taller demi-god.

"Please, Hermes, tell me you're not here to try getting into my pants, too."

"To your relief and dad's remorse; no. I'm not very fond of taking the same lovers as my children did", hummed the Messenger God with a smirk. "I'm here to see if my brothers already did major damage to you. And see, I've been right. I talked to Chiron about a possible solution, though it looks like you already found one of your own. Ours was for you to stay with your dad."

"Yeah, I'm wondering that, too! Why don't you just stay at your father's for the summer? Wouldn't that be easier?", asked Rachel in confusion.

"The hell to the no!", exclaimed Percy and shook his head wildly.

"Okay, first of all, you're not a black diva and we are not a glee club", interrupted Clarisse.

"Awesome show. My invention, by the way", threw Apollo in.

"Right. Secondly, why not?", continued the brunette girl.

"Because – and I am really, really starting to think that all the gods have gone crazy – my dad said he had the perfect solution. I went to him first, after I noticed a certain... pattern in the men trying to hit on me. And, for the sake of everything, I doubt I could be in the same place as him. He... arranged a marriage for me. I'm... engaged."

"To who?", gasped Grover wide-eyed. Not even he knew about that one, though Hermes and Chiron looked equally shocked and intrigued by the new turn this took.

"To Triton. As in my half-brother Triton. And dad seriously had the nerve to tell me to stop being so 'modern' and just take a look at Persephone. Just because her parents are siblings and she got married to her uncle doesn't mean that I have to marry my half-brother! So I... kind of ran away."

"That explains the extremely bad weather all day", muttered Chiron.

"Yeah, today it's even worse than in the past few months", nodded Rachel.

"And you came up with the idea of hiding in the underworld all on your own?", teased Hermes.

"Actually, no. A flower suggested it. And no, flower is not a code for a pretty person. I mean a plant. I thought I've lost it completely when a daisy started talking to me, until I saw Lady Persephone hiding nearby", replied the son of the Sea God. "Wait. What was that about the weather?"

"It rains. You didn't notice?", grunted the daughter of Ares.

"Oh. Oh! Jeez, I'm sorry, guys!", exclaimed Percy wide-eyed and clapped his hands.

The rain stopped instantly and all others, except for the Messenger God, who had a smug expression on his face, looked surprised. Nico knitted his eyebrows in irritation.

"How did you do that? I mean, sure, we as children of the Big Three are very powerful. But that was a bit too easy...", questioned the son of Hades.

"Ah. I see he hadn't told you yet", snickered Hermes. "May I introduce you then? Say welcome to Lord Perseus, God of Rain and Storms."

"Did he just say god?", gasped Juniper, staring at Percy and pointing at Hermes.

"You remember how the gods had offered me godhood after the war, right?"

"Sure. It's kind of hard to forget", grunted Rachel and rolled her eyes.

"I agreed", whispered the new Rain God.

"But... But... Why?", asked Clarisse stunned.

Sad green eyes stared down into his lap and the son of Poseidon shrugged awkwardly.

"The main reason why I didn't take it was Annabeth... And now that Grover is the Lord of the Wild and Rachel is the Oracle of Delphi and with Hades' plans for Nico... I figured being immortal would be kind of... good. But if I had known that being a god would mean that all the other gods would suddenly go crazy and try getting into my pants!"

"Yes, well, you have been a strong hero and now as a god...", drawled Hermes and shrugged.

"What are you even doing here, Hermes?", grunted Percy annoyed.

"I'm bringing those over, they're from Miss Chase", snickered the Messenger God and gave two roles of paper over to his fellow god.

"What are...", started Percy before opening the roles and knitting his eyebrows. "I told her she doesn't have to do that. Why are you even bringing them to me? I don't want them."

"What are these?", wanted the tree nymph to know.

"Plans for a palace, since Annabeth became the architect of the gods she said she'd also design a palace for me on mount Olympus", grunted the god of storms and rain. "It's the reason why I don't stay at Olympus anyway, I don't need to see her face every day."

"Why don't I know about any of this?", asked Grover furiously.

"Because you've been in the wild for some time and I stayed in New York to get away from everything and especially from Annabeth", sighed Percy and shrugged.

A bright light flashed right in front of the cabin and the door opened shortly after. Chiron turned around to face the intruder and raised an eyebrow at his nephew.

"Heracles, what are you doing here? It's rather polite to knock", stated the centaur.

"I've wanted to see PJ", smiled the god of oracles and turned to the green-eyed god. "You've just disappeared. You quit university and left your dorm without a note. I've been worried."

"And I've been angry", grunted Percy and stood.

Compared to the very tall blonde god, the black-haired teen was small. Really small. It wasn't very intimidating how Percy stared up at the older god. A confident smile spread over Heracles' lips when he reached down and pushed some long, silken locks out of the Sea Prince's face.

"I told you you should cut your hair. I always falls into your face and that's a shame. It's such a beautiful face, after all", murmured Heracles, his fingers lingered on the soft cheeks.

Though he flinched and pulled his hand back at the ice-cold feeling of Stygian iron. Frowning in irritation, he turned to look at the slightly smaller teen with olive-skin and curly black hair.

"Who do you think you are? Threatening a god!", growled Heracles furiously.

"Don't touch him", growled Nico back, pressing the blade against the blonde again.

A joyless laugh erupted from the god of oracles. "Another suitor for our pretty PJ? Don't think you'd stand a chance against me. I'm the biggest hero of Olympus."

"See, that's where you're wrong", smirked the son of Hades. "The biggest hero of Olympus is standing right behind me. And I not only stand a chance against you, I'm far better than you."

"You're just a cheeky little brat, there's no way you'll ever be better than me", hissed Heracles.

"And wrong again", interjected Percy, pushing past Nico to glare at the blonde. "Get lost, Herc, I don't date people who lie to me, made a habit of that after my first boyfriend turned out to be a traitor. And I especially don't date people who try to use me for some ulterior motives. And the least I'd date are people who think they can manipulate me into liking them."

The long-haired boy took a deep breath before he punched Heracles square into the face. The Oracle God went down with a gasp, followed by surprised calls from the others in the room.

"That one was for lying to me. And believe me, you don't want to receive what I've in store for you for molesting me after lying to me", promised the Rain God.

Heracles cursed in ancient Greek and hurried out of the cabin. A satisfied smirk tugged at Percy's lips and he shook his hand from the harsh contact to the other yaw.

"Percy! You can't just go around and punch gods!", screeched Rachel wide-eyed.

"I'm a god now myself and he can consider himself lucky that I only punched him in the face. Just because all those crazy sons of Zeus think I'm the 'hottest babe' around doesn't mean I'm a helpless chick. But I'm still pretty tired of all that shit...", sighed Percy and stretched.

"Maybe a little vacation would be good for you", hummed Chiron with a nod.

"Sure! You both just arrived and now you already want to leave again!", protested Clarisse.

"I'm sorry, War Princess, but I would really love to have some time to myself again... You try to imagine having six gods chasing after you like it's open season and you're the most popular catch out there. I need a bed and sleep, without Apollo reciting haikus at my window every morning. I need to take a walk, without Heracles following me and staring at my ass. And I especially need to get as far away from Zeus and dad as possible", declared the green-eyed boy.

"Well then, Lord Perseus, how about we leave right away?", smiled Nico and offered the smaller teen his arm with a chivalric bow.

"I'd love to", sighed the long-haired boy aggravated and took the offered arm.

The duo turned around a last time to wave their friends off, before they walked right into the shadows. Percy closed his eyes as a welcomed shudder went down his spine. He loved the ecstatic feeling shadow-traveling always send through his body. With Mrs. O'Leary it was fun, like driving the most awesome roller-coaster ever. But with Nico it felt so... different. Exciting on a whole, new level. Experiencing something as deep and intense as this together with someone else, in a lack of a better way of description, the son of Poseidon would call it sex without the whole sex-part. It was only the sensual feeling, without the whole touching and penetrating and kissing. Though, it would certainly be even better with heavy kissing, much touching and hard penetrating. Another pleasant shudder went down Percy's back at the thought and he gripped Nico's arm harder.

"Everything alright?", asked the olive-skinned teen curiously.

"Yeah, yeah... It's just the... shadow-traveling always has a very intense effect on me", confessed the green-eyed boy with a vibrant blush.

"I've already noticed that", chuckled the son of Hades, his eyes wandering down the smaller teen's body to rest on the bulge in Percy's pants.

They were out of the shadows again before the Sea Prince could ask the question that was laying on the tip of his tongue. The long-haired boy stumbled over something – a skull, what else could it be in the realm of Death? - and came crashing down, not without pulling the brown-eyed teen with him down. To his relief, though, there was a very soft bed catching their fall, more or less.

"Okay, first of all; This is very uncomfortable and equally awkward. And secondly; Why doesn't this shadow-traveling effect you as much as it effects me?", complained Percy, who was half laying on the bed, his feet still touching the black marble floor.

"First; I think this is rather comfortable and your level of awkwardness should really be higher than that after the father of one of your best friends had been hitting on you last week. Second; That's because I've been shadow-traveling since I was ten. I'm used to it, though it still effects me a bit when I'm traveling with someone else", answered the son of Hades, who was laying on top of the other teen, his hands rested on either side of Percy's head.

"My level of awkwardness has been busted in the past few months. And now get up, you lazy-ass!"

The son of Poseidon rolled them over, so he was straddling the olive-skinned half-blood's waist.

"Mh... I think I like that one, too", laughed Nico and stared up into those deep, green eyes.

"Oh for the love of—Just shut up!", grunted the god of rain and hit him playfully on the arm.

Percy fell sideways onto the bed, staring at the black ceiling, drifting over the black furniture, the black curtains and the black velvet sheets. All in all, it was very black. Not his cup of tea, but for now it'll have to do. And the bed was really comfortable.

"Would you mind me taking a nap...? I'm kind of dead tired here..."

"If you're dead tired then you're at least at the right place", joked the Ghost Prince. "Get some rest, you look like you haven't slept well in the past."

"I haven't slept at all! I had the freaking Sun God as a stalker, how was I supposed to sleep?", groaned the Sea Prince and closed his eyes.

Nico smiled at him and tightened his embrace around the son of Poseidon, watching him sleep. A knocking on his door disturbed his pastime. Dark brown eyes looked over at the door.

"Yes?", grunted the son of Hades.

His eyebrows shot up as the three gods entered his bedroom. His father had a confident look on his face, his stepmother looked equally pleased and his step-grandmother/aunt next to her looked somewhere between worried and annoyed.

"Boy! There you are! We have been waiting for you two for days now!", sighed Demeter.

"Percy just arrived today and I've been at Sally and Paul's place", whispered Nico.

"Ah, getting the future in-laws on your side. I should have tried that, too", muttered Hades and shot his sister an irritated glance.

"I've heard you helped me out a bit, 'Phone. Thanks", smiled the teen, ignoring the other two.

"No problem, deary", laughed the Spring Goddess and walked over to her stepson. "Besides, I got my money on you, so it'll be for my own good, too."

"Though Zeus is really driving me nuts here", growled Demeter, her hands stemmed into her hips.

"For once I have to agree with you, sis", sighed Hades and rubbed his forehead. "He has to break a fight loose just because he thinks that our dear brother could side with me for a change."

"You have to confess that his fear ain't that uncalled for, especially now that Percy became a god."

"A god?", exclaimed the three others perplexed.

Demeter walked up to them and took a closer look at Percy. "It's true, he has the godly glow."

"Did my dear brothers decide something important without me again", hissed Hades enraged.

"Well, the decision had been made years ago and you had been part of it", commented the sleepy voice of Olympus' greatest hero, who was yawning widely.

"Ah, did we wake you, Perseus? That's too bad", snickered the god of death and wealth.

"Strange, but I don't really believe you, uncle", chuckled Percy and sat up. "So, you four are going to tell me what the Tartarus is going on, because I need those crazed gods to lay off of me."

"I guess that's not our place to explain", smiled Persephone and winked at them before leaving.

Hades waved them and Demeter muttered something about bad taste under her breath before the two teenagers were alone again. With one raised eyebrow did the son of Poseidon turn to his friend.

"Well then, Nico? There something you want to tell me?"

The son of Hades stood up and walked around his room a bit awkwardly, trying to find the right words to tell what had been on his heart for such a long time. He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to face the worried looking Rain God.

"What's bothering you, Nicky?", asked Percy with knitted eyebrows. "You know, whatever it is, you can tell me. Right?"

"It's just that... You see, it's kind of my fault that the gods had gone crazy for you."

"How can that be your fault?", asked the green-eyed teen. "It's not like you send them after me."

"I kind of did, indirectly, you see", Nico took a deep breath before facing Percy. "This will sound really weird because I'm really bad at that kind of stuff. I like you, a lot more than a friend. And that kind of leaked into Olympus and now Lord Zeus is kind of scared that you being with me could push your dad over to my dad's side at whatever quarrel the three brothers could have in the future. So he's trying to set you up with one of his own sons, because he doesn't want you to be with me."

"That's a real jackass move from uncle Zeus", commented Percy and sat down again.

"Yeah, and now they're having a quarrel over nothing", sighed the son of Hades.

"Oh, okay... Nothing you say? But if you like me a lot, then how's that nothing?"

"You're a god now, Perce", snorted Nico. "You've been out of my league even before that."

"You're not so far from being a god either, or so I've been told."

"You've hinted on something like that back at camp, too. How do you know?"

"A little flower told me", smirked the son of Poseidon and leaned over. "You'll soon become a god yourself, as the heir of your father since he doesn't have any immortal children."

He grabbed Nico's hand and pulled the curly-haired teen down onto the bed so that their noses were nearly touching. A confident smile sparkled behind sea-green eyes.

"So, Nicky, what do you say? Fancy annoying uncle Zeus? Playing a bit Romeo and Juliet?"

"I don't think that those are good enough reasons", declined the brown-eyed boy.

"How about an eternity of making out?", smirked Percy and placed a kiss on the other's lips.

Nico's eyes widened and he stared at the son of Poseidon, his mouth hanging agape.

"That was... unexpected... Not unwelcomed, though. I'm not being a good host. Is there anything I could get you? A pomegranate, maybe?", joked the heir of Hades.

"How about...", Percy stopped and adapted a look of deep thinking. "How about you and me, naked, right now? And then we'll see about the fruits."

"I think I can live with that...", smiled the olive-skinned teen and captured his newly found boyfriend's lips in a heated kiss.

They both didn't see the two female gods sneaking into the room to take a photo, both chuckling to themselves, thinking about all the drachma they had just won.

~*~ The End ~*~