The Nico di Angelo experiment

The beginning...

Yearbook.

Jason wasn't on it, but Piper was the editor and relied on him as a distraction to snap candid photos of unsuspecting victims. She'd transformed the previously boring and unpopular club into something interesting and cool, and drove sales through the roof. Jason's personal favorite touch was the fact that, for a small fee, you could bring in a sheet of signatures from your friends and have them laminated into the blank pages. Bam: no more worrying about running out of room or spilling something and losing the signatures. And, since he was Piper's resident "distraction bunny" (as she'd put it) he got first dibs.

"Piper, can you go ahead and add these signatures to my book?" He asked during a study session, sliding the blank paper over the her. "I forgot to do it last year, so I'm placing my order early."

She blinked, then smiled. "Sure, Jay. Let me just make sure there's no inappropriate material...you'd be surprised how many people try to use this to engrave sexy memories into high school forever." She laughed, eyes sliding over the page lazily.

"Oh my gosh, I can totally see Leo trying to make up fake sexual escapades to wow the Stolls." He chuckled, and she covered her mouth with her hand to muffle the giggles.

"He would totally do that!" She crowed, earning a harsh hiss from the librarian. "That's the reason we have to look over them- oh! Nico even signed this! Oooooooooooooooo-"

"Piper, stop!" He groaned. "I was just passing that around at lunch, of course he signed it. Everyone did, even you."

"Yeah, but look at what he signed!" She squealed. "Jason, you're a huge dork who reads driver manuals in his free time, but you're also my boyfriend. Lucky me, I guess. Love, Nico.

" That's so cute!" She insisted. "He actually noticed that you read the drivers guide whenever it's updated, and he still loves you!"

"Loves?" Jason exclaimed, waving his hands back and forth. "Oh, no. Nope. Not love. You just sign that on signatures, everyone knows that."

"Everyone's not your boyfriend." She argued, slipping the page into her bag. "Tell you what, since this is so cute, I'll make sure it's one of the first ones printed. Deal?"

"Do I have to admit that it's cute?"

"Yep."

Jason smiled. "I guess he is pretty cute."

"Oh, you bet he is. Just doesn't want to admit it."
~*~
Jason liked quotes. What could he say?

Quotes about life, quotes about friendship. He just liked quotes. There was just something about being able to take someone else's words, from their perspective, and fit it to your own life that appealed to him.

"And suddenly you know: It's time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings- Eckhart." He read, looking up at Nico, perched on the bed above him. "Is that a good one?"

The younger boy shook his head. Jason was leaning against the side of the bed, reading quotes from his laptop as Nico lie on his bed and contemplated whether or not they could be useful.

"Too cheesy." He decided, letting one hand fall lazily to the side. Jason didn't hesitate to thread his fingers through it; all the pins and needles in the world couldn't deter him from holding Nico's hand. "The opening needs to be...original? Creative? Something like that."

"Man." Jason sighed in sympathy, shaking his head. "I'm actually kind of glad we have different English teachers. Making you write a short story about some version of yourself from a parallel universe? That's just cruel."

Nico groaned dramatically. "Tell me about it. At least she's letting me partner with Annabeth; although writing the beginning and end while she writes the middle doesn't seem like that good of a deal."