@percicomicrofic | prompt: GENDER | wordcount: 1,101 | universe: end of BoO
"No more Underworld-y stuff, doctor's orders. You owe me at least three days of rest in the infirmary. Starting now."
Something churned deep in Nico's stomach. He couldn't immediately identify it, but the sensation made him feel uneasy. Like maggots wriggling about, ready to crawl and—
Butterflies! He thought quickly, mentally shaking the previous image from his mind. Skeletal butterflies—a crush!
He didn't have much experience in that area. His only other data point was Percy Jackson, and that had taken years of denial and self-hatred to realize—
A loud, throat-clearing cough broke him from his thoughts and made him look at Will. The son of Apollo stood before him in a green surgeon's shirt with jeans and flip-flops. His brows were marked with creases and the corners of his mouth were turned downward. He seemed irritated by the delay in response.
"Three days?" Nico finally answered back, not knowing what Solace had planned for him. "I—I suppose that would be okay?"
The expression on Will's face didn't change, but the son of Apollo accepted Nico's answer.
A loud whoop! cut through the air.
Before he could even turn his head, Nico knew the holler came from Percy. He was seated over by the hearth in the center of the common, grinning from ear to ear at something Annabeth had just told him.
"I'll be right back," he shouted at Will, waving him off, not even bothering to face him as he started to walk in Percy's direction. "Promise on the Styx and everything." He added as an afterthought.
As he approached the couple. he thought about the maggots skeletal butterflies he felt wriggling inside him.
Maybe it is a crush? He walked faster toward Percy and Annabeth, ignoring how his heart rate skyrocketed and his breathing quickened as he approached the son of Poseidon.
It has to be! I can't have Percy I'm starting to get over Percy and this must be the feeling of me moving on!
When he finally arrived and stood a few feet from the Golden Couple, the feeling of maggots skeletal butterflies was entirely replaced with a new sensation. He felt lighter, almost as if he was floating.
"Hey, man," Percy greeted him as he arrived. His warm smile and bright eyes made Nico's face heat up. "Annabeth just told me some good news. Sorry if I got a little loud."
Nico tried to speak but found his mouth had dried up. Instead, he settled for a smile and motioned for Percy to continue.
I'm just excited for whatever news Percy has to share. He thought a little too quickly, seeking a way to rationalize how his body started going haywire in the presence of the son of Poseidon. It's not that I'm still crushing on him. It's not like I can be with him anyway nothing like that at all.
"We're going to spend our senior year together," Percy interjected, disrupting Nico's thoughts and sending another wave of heat crashing over him, "here in New York. And after graduation—"
Nico tried to listen to what Percy had to say, but he tuned out the conversation and shifted his sight towards Annabeth. Percy felt too intense at the moment and Nico needed a quick breather.
I gotta rest, right? Doctor's orders or something. The thought of Will made Nico's stomach churn again.
He decided to focus on the space above Annabeth's shoulder, trying to make the maggots skeletal butterflies go away, but his sight drifted slowly toward her face. If she was bothered by Nico's gaze, she didn't show it. It was apparent just how captivated she was by Percy's excitement. She kept her entire focus on her boyfriend.
Good for them, Nico thought, swallowing as his eye twitched imperceptibly. I wish them the best.
Seeing Annabeth again reminded him of the last time he had seen her. She had finished thanking him for saving her and Percy's lives in Tartarus thanks to Bob's help in guiding them and then sacrificing himself to close the Doors of Death.
As she left him then, he recalled Plato's story. Of how he claimed that in ancient times, all humans had been a combination of male and female with two heads, four arms, and four legs.
It turns out that he didn't actually know the original story.
On his journey returning the Athena Parthenos back to Camp Half-Blood, during one of his few moments of recovery, he found a quaint, little bookstore on the outskirts of a small town that had a surprisingly large section of ancient texts and classics.
There, he learned that, in the original myth, Plato claimed humanity had actually consisted of three genders—males (with two sets of male genitalia) born from the Sun, females (with two sets of female genitalia) born from the Earth, and androgynous (with one set of each) born from the Moon.
When Nico found out, he cursed the author who had spread the incorrect version of the myth. He couldn't recall the author's name, nor his other works, but he wouldn't be surprised if they were also full of mischaracterizations.
I wonder if Percy and I would have been a two-male being. Nico briefly pondered, but as soon as the idea manifested he brushed it aside. No, that's ridiculous. Nico knew he couldn't have didn't want that.
Percy was always meant to be an androgynous pair with Annabeth.
Focusing back on the present, Nico risked a glance at Percy.
Nico studied Percy's face—his sea green eyes, his grin, his ruffled black hair. Somehow Percy Jackson always returned to the forefront of his mind. It was unfair, truly, but he assumed these feelings were the last vestiges of his crush on the son of Poseidon.
He felt himself go on autopilot as he addressed Percy, telling half-truths, and sometimes blatant lies as he meandered throughout the conversation.
"You're a great amazing, honorable, just, beautiful, perfect person. But I'm not over that." He felt his throat get tighter. "I'm happy for you guys."
A new feeling started to emerge within him. He felt claws constricting around his chest as he continued speaking.
"I chose not to see now... you're everything cute, but you're unattainable not my type."
Nico rushed through the remainder of the conversation, realizing he just wanted to get out of there and rid himself of the soul-crushing vice he was experiencing. He thought Annabeth might've high-fived him, but he couldn't remember.
Then he walked back across the green, where Will Solace was expecting him, and the feeling of maggots wriggling inside him returned.
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