bury me in black

Percy shakes the thought away and nods at Nico’s comment, tilting his head back against the lockers as he swallows. The bell rings then and Percy scoots a little closer, sliding down against the wall and ducking his head to observe Nico’s movements. He’s encroaching on Nico’s personal space, a little, but it’s loud as kids crowd into the hallway and besides, the numbers on the dial are small. Percy just wants to help.

The first try is a no-go, as is the second. Percy puts his hand over Nico’s on the lock and nudges him with his other shoulder. “Here,” he says gently. “Let me?” He takes Nico’s schedule paper from him and tries the combination himself, jerking the lock once he’s put in the correct numbers. It pops open with a loud CLANG! that makes a girl squeak next to Percy, clearly startled by the noise. He’s surprised to notice that she’s one of the only students left in the corridor — passing period is half over and Percy is glad for it. Trying to talk over the noise in the halls is one of his least favorite things.

"Cool," he says, swinging the door back and forth. He smiles slow and meets Nico’s eyes, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck. "A lot of these lockers are like that. You have to find their sweet spot." Percy feels a flush in his cheeks and ignores his own innuendo, wondering what the hell has gotten into him today. He steps back and gestures for Nico to try on his own.

Once the locker situation is sorted, they head toward the library, which is down another wing of the building. The library and computer lab are the only rooms in it, though, so its entrance is a bit fancier — double wooden doors and a big, fancy sign marking the space. Percy rests a hand on Nico’s shoulder as he steers him into the library, giving Mr. Mercur a grin as they approach the counter.

Percy steps in and opens Nico's locker with ease and it makes Nico hate him, just a little. (At least he's not the girl who jumps ten feet when Percy opens his locker. He's not that skittish, jesus.) Percy makes some crack comment about how Nico shouldn't feel bad. It makes Nico's cheeks flush of their own accord, embarrassed. He takes the lock from Percy and tries again, cursing and fumbling with it again before finally jiggling it open. It's a tiny locker – probably, in fact, small enough to fit him, despite Percy's jokes. 

They make their way to the library – it seems to left of the center of the school, so they traverse the hallways quietly, Percy occasionally pointing out offices, places where they hold freshmen classes. Percy puts his hand on Nico's shoulder and he flinches away from the touch. 

The librarian greets Percy with a smile, just like everyone else they've met so far. Mr. Mercur, the library smiles and asks for Nico's schedule. He passes it to him wordlessly. "Just a minute, I'll go run and get them," he whispers with a kind smile. "Percy why don't you show Mr. di Angelo around our lovely library?" 

His eyes widen a little when they stop at his locker — the 1000s are all assigned to freshmen, and though Nico is small, he doesn’t give off the vibe that he’s that young. Percy hides his surprise in his locker as he opens it up, dropping his backpack on the floor and grabbing his hoodie. He quickly strips out of his flannel, hands flying over the buttons, and then tugs on the thick, fur-lined sweatshirt and zipping it all the way to the top. Percy shoves the flannel in his locker and grabs a notebook, sticking it in his backpack before he closes the door and turns to face Nico again. He smiles.

"There are wings off the main hall, which is why the numbers jump so quickly. There are also a couple portable classroom buildings for electives that are numbered somewhere in the middle, as well. Usually departments stick to certain numbers, so it’s easier to navigate."

Percy leads Nico down one of those wings, the one near the theater that contains the first half of the freshmen lockers. “Your locker is somewhere down here, I think. It’s been a while since I’ve used a freshman locker, but I’m pretty sure they’re too small for me to hide bodies in, so if I murder you it will have to wait until we’re somewhere with better storage space.” He winks and laughs, leaning against the bank of lockers when they find 1090. Percy thinks the bell is about to ring any second, and he wants to make sure Nico’s combination works before that happens.

Percy stops at a locker that is definitely not Nico's and spends a minute fiddling with the lock before wiggling it open with a shudder of the metal. There's a bit of a flurry of quick motions, the ease of years spent comfortably in a body and Percy's zipping up a hooded sweatshirt. Nico hadn't even realized how chilly it was in the school. He shrugged further into his bomber jacket.

He easily explains the supposed logic of the school's layout, without really explaining why the numbers jumped – although Nico figured it was probably just some satanist architect that hated order and reason. Percy takes his time explaining as they walk – that the freshmen lockers are down this way, that he hasn't had one in a while because he's a big fancy senior. NIco doesn't laugh at his joke about hiding bodies.

"What’s wrong with Jersey?" Percy asks teasingly. He gestures toward his own homeroom door and grins. "We start every day with a free-for-all study period at Mt. Zeus. What’s not to love?" He laughs, walking on autopilot toward his locker, really too cold to wander the school in just his flannel, especially when Nico looks so cozy in his too-big bomber jacket.

"Did they give you a locker assignment?" he asks. "We can go find it, figure out if your combination actually works. Then we can take your schedule to the library to get your books and I’ll show you the quickest route to get to and from your classes. Does that sound okay to you, Nico?"

Percy asks a lot of questions, actually. Like Nico needs to give him his permission to do the task he was literally assigned to do – Nico does not have a choice in this at all. "Uh, sure," he says, shrugging. He reaches around to fish out the crumpled piece of paper the secretary had given him with his locker information and schedule from his back pocket. He passes it to Percy. "It's uh, 1090? I think?"

She smiles and flushes, something that never fails to amuse Percy. She’s a sweet lady, if a little batty, and Annabeth has told him time and time again that no one is ever nice to her. He doesn’t think that’s very fair, so he goes out his way to make her day a little better each time he sees her (which isn’t all that often). As usual, she doesn’t bother with pleasantries, just gestures to a dark-haired boy sitting by the door and introducing him as Mr. di Angelo. Percy almost laughs.

"Hey, Nico," he says, holding out a hand to shake. Nico stands and Percy sort of notices everything all at once: his dark hair and the way it’s kind of all over the place, the lip ring at the corner of his mouth that makes Percy’s stomach twist for some unexplainable reason, the goth clothing and the huge bomber jacket that looks like it would even be too big on Percy, who’s got at least six inches on this kid. Percy decides, immediately, that he needs to be Nico’s friend, because he’s not sure if anyone else at Mt. Zeus will spare him a second glance.

He shakes his hand. Percy has a firm grip, warm. The word steadfast comes to mind and Nico thinks that's a really fucking weird word to describe someone's handshake but there it is.

They abandon the office and make their way down the halls, Percy still smiling and Nico getting seriously more and more concerned for this kid's mental health. He asks where Nico's from.

Whoever said that senior year is a year to goof off and take stupid classes clearly didn’t go to Percy’s high school. He’s studying for his math midterm in his history classes and going over Grover’s notes from history in his student council meetings because no matter what he does, he can’t seem to get his brain to focus on just one thing at a time and he’s afraid he’s falling behind. He isn’t, not really, because his grades are decent and his mom would kill him if he lost his average halfway through his senior year, but Percy is stressed.

So it’s kind of understandable when he doesn’t notice his homeroom teacher calling his name Monday morning, though Percy doesn’t think his excuse (I really don’t think I’m at all prepared to exist outside of high school and I can’t stop thinking about it!) is one that she’ll accept. He clears his throat and sits up straighter and gives her his most charming smile.

"I’m so sorry, Mrs. Rhodes. I must’ve been in another world," he says, pouring earnestness into every word. She eyes him for a long moment and then shakes her head, tsking even as she gestures him toward her desk.

"Gather your things, Perseus. Your presence has been requested in the attendance office."

For any other student, that would probably set off a hundred red flags. Percy just does what she asks, tucking his English book into his bag and hoping he’s gotten through enough of the reading to answer a few questions intelligibly. There’s only one reason he’d be requested at the attendance office.

He supposes the secretary has been kind enough, although he was kind of sickly amused by the way her eyebrows shot up into the stringy curls that framed her face when she saw him, lip ring and all. Not that he supposes his permanent record hadn't been enough to make her nervous (the weird explosion in the courtyard had been an accident – he didn't mean to open a creator in the concrete). She tells him his student guide will be here momentarily and that he can sit in the chairs by the door until then.

It's five minutes later that a tall boy with football shoulders and a total jock smile breezes in, says hello to the secretary with ease and she laughs, smiles and says. "Percy, meet Mr. di Angelo."