Favors (Percico AU)

Chapter 11

Chapter 11 (Percy's POV)

I tapped my fingers nervously on the desk as Ms. Powell passed out the test papers. I wanted to do well on the test to show Nico I was trying hard. I also didn't want him thinking I was stupid. I studied the night before after Nico left to make sure I was going to do well. "I will give you 30 minutes to complete the test. I want to see better grades out of this class." Her eyes glazed over the other students but connected with mine. Her cold stare of hatred reminded me of another reason I wanted to pass.

I looked down at the paper and saw the first word, kind. I remembered that one tipo so I drew a line to connect the two words. Worried was the next word. I remembered it was a long word that started with a P. The only word like that was Preoccupato, so I connected it to that one. I guessed on a lot of them, the others I was 95% sure I was half right. I thought I would have gotten at least a C+.

"How did you do?" Nico asked as we walked down the hallway. "Great, I think. I'm feeling good about it."

"You did study the cards again last night, right?" he asked over the noise of the other students. "Yeah I did."

"Good, you needed it." I narrowed my eyes at him. He looked down at the floor and held in a snicker.

We waited outside the school for Will to get Nico. I had my swim meeting and Nico didn't want to stay. I didn't blame him, if I had to sit on the bleachers and read a book for an hour and a half, I would leave too.

Will finally appeared and walked over to us. "Ready?" he asked Nico, then looked at me "Hey Percy." I nodded slightly in his direction. I had to keep reminding myself they were just friends. It didn't help much because the voice in the back of my head would say; you and Annabeth were just friends.

It was kinda ridiculous though since I had no real evidence Nico was gay in the first place.

"I'll see you guys later" I said. Nico and Will both said "okay" and left to their car. I sighed and made my way to the meeting.

...

The next day, Nico showed up for his swim lesson. The main thing I planned to teach him was how to stay afloat in deep water. "Okay, today we are working on staying afloat. You need to get in the deep end where you can't touch the bottom." He took a shaky breath and got in the water. "Swim on your back all the way down there" I instructed and pointed my finger to the deeper end.

I stayed by him the whole way down the pool. He stopped and I pulled him closer to me so he won't feel like he was drowning. His body was tense, which wasn't a good thing. He clung to me as the water rose up to his neck. "You can't touch right?" he tried and shook his head.

I noticed he was very quiet in the water. Over all, he wasn't a very talkative person. But still was very quiet. "Stay relaxed, and kick your feet in the water." He started to kick but too fast to do anything good for him. "Not like that, slow and flipper-like. You mostly rely on your arms." He tried again and it took him a while to get it right. Once he did, I moved on. "Perfect. Now, I'm going to loosely let you go, and I want you to paddle with your arms."

"No, please don't let me go." He stopped moving his feet and clung to me tighter. "I'm not. Not completely. I'm just going to give you some room to move." Nico's breathing slowed a little, and his body relaxed. "Okay."

I gave him a reassurance smile and my arms slowly left his sides. His legs began to kick faster and he dipped in the water. I coughed him and he grabbed my shoulders. "Are you okay?" I asked as he wrapped his legs around my waist.

We were eye level; Nico's brown eyes stared back at me. I glanced down at his lips quickly before returning his gaze. His eyes held this look of anticipation. His breathing intensified. His lips were slightly parted, allowing his nervous breathes out of his lungs with ease. I slowly leaned in, I wanted to kiss him, and he wasn't stopping me. But before our lips could touch, my boss walked in. "Hello Percy" his voice boomed, startling both of us. "Hey Mr. Palmer."