Hell And High Water (Percico boyxboy)

Introduction

Shortly after Nico Di'Angelo joined the Argo II crew in 2012, Percy found himself leaving. He couldn't stand how awkward it made him feel to be around the boy all the time, especially after he admitted to liking Percy. And on top of that, everyone was acting differently around him, including Annabeth. No one recorded in the ships log that he had left, and they actually made it seem like he was still there. Because of that, everyone at Camp Half Blood was cluless about his absence. Percy had pretty much become a ghost and no one would talk about it.
Everyone on the Argo II assumed he had returned to his home, which was part of the reason he was kept in the log. Well, almost everyone. Nico wasn't so sure. He was only fifteen, sort of, at the time but that didn't mean he couldn't have a clue. He couldn't convince the others that something might be wrong with Percy, they all just shrugged it off. Having none of the others want to do anything about Percys disappearance made Nico feel obligated to grow up and be the hero for once. He snuck off the ship, alone, when it was docked one night and went out looking for Percy.
Being only fifteen made it very hard for Nico to go anywhere or do anything. He wasn't allowed to legally drive, or pay for a hotel room, so he had to forge himself a good number of documents. Along the way, he got himself into his fair share of trouble. He couldn't make money in conventional ways so he found himself doing anything he could to make a little cash. One thing he did, the darkest thing, was the only thing he turned out to be quite good at. Killing. He should have figured, being the son of Hades. But still.
Word on the street got around and Nicos name became pretty well known, and so did his alias: Hades. It fit, obviously, and it caused all the gang bangers, mobsters, and drug dealers all over the country to adopt names of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses to keep their identities hidden.

As time went on and Nico continued to do his 'dirty deeds' to make money to keep up the search, he began to lose hope. He never really had figured out why Percy left the quest but something told him the son of Poseidon didn't want to be followed. Maybe it was the fact that he hadn't left any sign of where he was going. Or maybe it was because three years had gone by and Nico still had no clue where he was.
Nico had been looking for Percy for much longer than he had expected and it was begining to take its toll. He had gotten himself into heaps of trouble and met some people he wished he wouldn't have. Everything that Nico had done over the three years had made him wonder if it was really worth it. Then there was that one day. The day that he decided that if he couldn't find Percy he would just go back to Camp. That day was the best, and worst, day of his life. The day he FOUND Percy.
The son of Poseidon had gone to the one place that Nico had never wanted to go back to: The Lotus Hotel and Casino, and he had been stuck there for three years.
Nico had become more stressed and angry over the years and that had just put icing and sprinkles on the cake that he had never asked for.
Once that day came and passed, and Nico drank himself into oblivion because of it, he tried to convince himself that he had done what he set out to do. He said he would find Percy and he did just that. But, a part of him knew he had to do more. As much as his mind told him it was stupid, something tugged him toward the hotel and got him to make up an extraction plan. And then, finally, after almost a month, Nico was ready to get Percy out of there.
He snuck in one night in February and found Percy sitting at the spa. It was definantly a place Nico had never expected to see him. He followed along with his plan and was able to act up the high one gets from the Lotus flowers long enough to get Percy to stop eating them and for his normal thought process to return.
"Do you remember me?"
Percy was still pretty confused. He had gone a few hours without one of the sweet flowers but his thoughts were still groggy. He tried to get away from Nico but the son of Hades knocked him out with Chloroform, asked Poseidon to forgive him, and dragged Percy out the back door of the casino.
He stuck him in the car he had gotten from a friend and drove to a small hotel on the outskirts of Las Vegas.
Percy was still knocked out but Nico hooked him up to some fluids to wash the Lotus flowers out of his system and went to bed. It was late and Nico had had a long day. And he knew the day ahead was bound to be worse.