PJatO || Nicercy || PJatO || The Underworld's Jealousy || PJatO || Frazeleo || PJatO

Title: The Underworld's Jealousy – Five Easy Steps to Happiness

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus; right post House of Hades

PJatO 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 / Heroes of Olympus. Aside from the Gods, of course. They are all copyright by the old Greeks. This fanfiction on the other hand is entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.

Warnings: shounen-ai, shoujo-ai, hetero, threesome, hurt/comfort, fluff

Main Pairings: Nico/Percy, Frank/Hazel/Leo

Side Pairings: Reyna/Annabeth, Jason/Piper, Frank/Hazel (established)

Percy Jackson Characters: Perseus Jackson, Nico di Angelo, Leo Valdez, Hazel Levesque, Frank Zhang, Annabeth Chase, Piper McLean, Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Jason Grace

Summary: Five-shot about what should happen after House of Hades. Nico journeys with Reyna and bonds with her, Frank and Hazel are not happy about Leo thinking of Calypso, Leo is confused by his feelings, Jason wants to help Nico, Reyna questions why her loyalty seems to lay by Annabeth, while Annabeth and Percy try dealing with what they had been through in Tartarus.

The Underworld's Jealousy

Five Easy Steps to Happiness

Step 5: Let's Continue

Percy sat crouched together at the foot end of the bed. His knees were pulled up against his chest, his arms wrapped around his legs tightly, his chin resting on his knees. The sounds in the darkness were what kept him awake. At first, it had been nice, laying next to Nico, talking. But at one point, the Italian had fallen asleep and then Percy was on his own with the shadows and the fears that haunted him. Every shadow looked like a torn face of a monster.

"Percy...?", yawned Nico sleepily.

The son of Hades blearily blinked his eyes open, patting the bed on either side of him. Sitting up, he found what he was looking for. But his Sea Prince looked weary and tired. Not good.

"Go back to sleep, Nico", whispered Percy softly.

"Only if you do too", ordered Nico and leaned over to wrap his arms around Percy's waist. "Come here, babe. Why are you awake? It's the middle of the night. You need your sleep."

"Don't call me babe, I'm not a blonde Barbie and you are not my pimp", huffed Percy and wiggled his nose annoyed. "I just... can't sleep, okay? Can we leave it at that and you go back to sleep?"

"Why can't you sleep?", asked the son of Hades softly, hugging Percy closer until the older boy was seated on his lap. "Talk to me, please. I don't like seeing you upset, mio amore."

That name seemed to be more accepted, because Percy leaned against him, relaxing some. "Nightmares... of... well, Tartarus. I don't like it, it's so... dark, but not dark enough. All the shadows look as though there are faces, monsters in them a—and I... I know it's stupid. I'm a hero, I shouldn't be afraid of the dark. And it's not the dark, really. It's more... the light... the shadows."

"How is that then?", asked Nico and with a snap of his wrist, the room darkened until it was pitch-black, not a single shadow or creak of light. "Is it better now or worse?"

Percy looked around. No shadows that looked like weird monsters. Only darkness and the feeling of Nico's chest against his back. Shifting some, he rested his ear against Nico's heart, listening to the steady heartbeat of his lover, his eyes fixed on the blackness around them. It was comforting, because he could feel that those shadows came from his Ghost King.

"I think... I love you", whispered Percy and leaned up to kiss Nico's cheek.

"Just sleep some more, amore", chuckled the son of Hades amused. "I will keep guard."

He cradled Percy closer until he was laying sprawled on top of Nico. Running his fingers through soft hair, he listened closely for Percy's breath until it evened out and he could be sure that his love was asleep. Frowning to himself, he buried his nose in Percy's hair, inhaling the delicious, salty scent. He disliked what Tartarus had done to the son of Poseidon. But Nico swore to himself that he would help Percy through this, would make sure that Percy would come out of this alright.

/break\

Annabeth hummed contently to herself as she snuggled up to the soft, warm cushion beneath her cheek. This was nice. Soft and nice. She liked that, especially because the way she recalled it, the pillows on the Argo II were nearly hard as stone.

"Are you still asleep or are you pretending so you can cuddle with my boobs?"

The daughter of Athena blinked slowly and turned her head to look up at Reyna, just to realize that she was laying with her head against Reyna's chest. A bright blush lit up her face as she tried to turn away, just to end up with her nose pressed against the round, soft not-pillow.

"Good morning", mumbled the blonde.

"Good morning", replied Reyna, tenderly kissing the top of Annabeth's head. "You want to get up and fetch breakfast or do you want to just... cuddle some longer? You seem to enjoy yourself."

"Can we... just lay here?", asked Annabeth with a small sigh. "We're going to face war soon and I... want to enjoy us as long as possible. Can we do that?"

"Of course", agreed the daughter of Bellona relieved.

Her fingers were playing with the blonde curls. This felt good, oddly normal. For a child of war, it felt oddly like the calm before the next big storm and in the back of their minds, both daughters of war were more than aware of the pending battle. Right now, this moment, it was just them. No Gaia, no giants. Only being together. Pressing her lips against the top of Annabeth's head, Reyna prayed that once this war was over, they would get the opportunity to have many more moments like this.

/break\

"Okay, so... Humor me, once more", prompted Piper, one eyebrow arched in a skeptical way. "Nico is in love with Percy and when you tried to help Nico, you ended up making Percy believe that you love Percy and then Nico dropped by and also got the impression that you have something going on with Percy. Basically, a third of the crew think you're gay for Percy now, yes?"

"Two out of nine are not a third", muttered Jason. "But basically, yes."

"It is a third. You forgot to include me in those maths", grunted Piper with a glare. "I am not going to leave you alone in a room with Percy until I'm more convinced."

There was a playful tone to her voice though and it went right to Jason. Grinning slightly, the Roman leaned up, adapting the same playfulness in a glint of his electric blue eyes.

"Then let me... thoroughly convince you that I'm straight", suggested the former praetor of Camp Jupiter with a smirk and leaned in to kiss her. "Let's snog."

"Really?", snorted Piper and burst into laughing. "Really? Snog?"

"Way to kill the mood", muttered Jason with a glare. "We can just eat lunch, if you don't want to."

"Sorry, sorry", chuckled the native American apologetically and leaned in. "Let's snog, mh?"

/break\

Placing Nico in Percy's room had been strategically clever for the local threesome, because a Nico that was occupied with Percy didn't think of constantly checking on his sister's virtue. Which led to a very content Hazel, having her arms wrapped around a half-naked Latino. The fire-bender laid sprawled on top of her, snuggling up to her and basically having the function of a heating blanket. Frank was laying next to them, propped up on one arm so he could just stare at his lovers.

"You're a creep, Zhang", mumbled Leo as he turned to look at Frank.

"These could be the last peaceful minutes we may get", whispered the Canadian and reached out to caress the Latino's curls. "I want to spend them looking at those I love."

"You're a sap, Zhang", teased Hazel with a soft smile. "It's way past noon. We should get up."

/break\

While the other couples were still below deck, cuddled up to each other and making out, Percy had insisted on dragging Nico up at the crack of dawn. Then again, as long as everybody else was below deck, Nico had Percy's full attention and some alone-time with the Sea Prince, so he was quite alright with it. With his arms wrapped around Percy's waist did the Ghost King stare down at the skyline of Athens. Their destination. Their destiny. Their doom.

"Whatever happens in Athens and with Gaia", whispered Nico into Percy's ear. "Know that I love you and that I will always love you, in this life and any life that will follow."

~*~ The End ~*~

Author's note: That's it! You reached the end of the story! I know it's an open end, but that's on purpose, because I want something that ultimately fits between "House of Hades" and "Blood of Olympus", no assumptions about what may or may not happen during the war. Just the pending and the getting-together. I hope you guys had fun with this story, I sure as Hades did! Thanks for reading and even more so for reviewing!