"The moment I met you,
I held my breath.
And you've been taking
it away ever since,
Nico di Angelo."
[ NICO DI ANGELO x MALE OC ]
[ PERCY JACKSON SERIES ]
[ HEROES OF OLYMPUS SERIES ]
cover by @humaneity !
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0005. | HE WASN'T SOME DAMSEL IN DISTRESS
Nico hated Vela.
He just couldn't catch a break around the god! Firstly there was his stupid accent that was all polite and gorgeous. Then his stupid fascination with working out that gave him abs for days and better biceps than the sons of Hephaestus who spent every day hammering in the forges that made him look like a Greek god (yes, he understood the irony). Then there was his annoyingly genuine care for everyone that made Nico's stomach do flips. And even after all of that, Vela had to go an get a new haircut.
How was Nico supposed to concentrate after Drew had given him an undercut? Seriously!
Okay... maybe he didn't hate him. But he sure did hate Will Solace and that Connor kid who wouldn't stop staring at Vela every chance they got. Nico couldn't explain that burning fire he felt in the very pit of his stomach every time someone looked at Vela in a way that was recognising of his beauty. It made Nico furious.
Even then as Nico and Vela were sword-training in the arena, Will Solace just coincidentally was needed in the same arena to bandage Connor's ankle. The audience was filled with them, and almost every girl who wasn't a part of cabin ten ogled at Vela. Nico was fuming.
It was a double edged sword (again, he understood the irony) because the more angry he got, the harder he worked, which meant Vela was working harder to block his strikes, which meant Vela was then getting all hot and sweaty and had resorted to taking his camp shirt (he annoyingly suited the vivid orange colour) off which only drove the audience (and Nico) even crazier.
Nico sliced his Stygian iron sword at Vela's stomach, knowing the danger of using a metal that traps souls in such close combat but Vela had sworn it was fine. The son of Aphrodite was still adamant that Nico wouldn't be able to land a hit on him. So far he was right.
Vela parried the blow and Nico got distracted by a droplet of sweat that flowed down from Vela's jaw over his throat that was heaving with laboured breaths. "Careful!" Vela yelled, deflecting his katana out from hitting Nico who had been too distracted to block it. "Neeks, what're you doing?"
Nico snapped out of his stare and swallowed hard. "Nothing." He excused smartly.
Vela raised a brow at him that Nico wasn't sure if he did on purpose or not. Or maybe Vela just didn't realise how insanely attractive all of his personal quirks were; like bowing his head when he got shy, or arching his eyebrow like that, or holding onto door frames when having conversations. That last one absolutely killed Nico every time he did it, although he never let Vela know he had this affect.
Luckily for Nico, Vela didn't notice his own attractiveness and so didn't notice people staring at him. Vela (for some gods unknown reason) didn't think he was pretty anymore which quite annoyed Nico. If it weren't for the simple fact of how mortifyingly embarrassing it would be, Nico would tell him just how pretty he was every day. He didn't though.
