Hell And High Water (Percico boyxboy)

I

Nico was in the shower when Percy woke up the next morning. He had wanted to be out before that happened but he took a longer shower than he anticipated, mainly because the warm water made him feel like he was still under his blankets and he didn't want to move. Once he heard something out in the hotel room, through, he was quick to get out of the shower, wrap a towel around his waste, and leave the bathroom. What he saw made his heart hurt.
Percy was standing up and wobbling around the room like a drunken fool. He was groaning like a zombie and attempting to pull the needle out of his arm, but his eyes wouldn't focus enough for him to see it properly. He tugged his arm, ripping the tiny piece of metal from the flesh. Seeing Percy in a state like that would have made Hades himself feel for the boy.
"Percy!"
Percy turned quickly and fell to the floor from dizziness. He really didn't feel well and the room was spinning around him. He saw the person that the voice belonged to and tried to get to the door. He reached for the handle but he was too far away. He fell back to the ground and Nico ran to him. The son of Hades wasn't sure what to do so he tried saying Percys name again. That didn't do any good, though. Percy tried to stand but he fell and hit his head hard on the floor, knocking himself out.
Nico pulled him up onto the bed and messily threw on some clothes quickly before he got started on Percy. He checked his head first to make sure he hadn't hit it on anything and then grabbed some water for when he came to. It was only about thirty seconds before that happened and Nico had returned and was standing in front of him with a bottle of water. Percy blinked his eyes awkwardly and pushed himself into the head board behind him when he saw the other male again.
"Percy."
Percy pointed a finger at the male and tried to speak. His voice was shakey from the drug he had been given but he managed to get the words out. He pushed himself back off the bed and onto the floor where he looked like he was trying to melt into the corner.
"How do you know my name? Who are you?"
"Percy, it's Nico. Nico DiAngelo."
Percy tensed. "No. Nico is a kid. He's shorter and... and... oh gods." Once he got a good look at the males face, he saw that it was Nico. "How long was I in there for?"
"Three years."
"Bu- Wh- How-"
"Percy, you need to relax. Drink some water, take a few breaths, relax."
Nico opened the bottle for Percy and handed it to him. Percy was very leary on taking it from the guy that stood before him. He said he was Nico, but it didn't look like Nico.
"Percy, take the water. Drink it. Everything will make sense soon."
'Everything will make sense soon'? Percy really didn't know what to think. What if the water was poisoned or drugged or something? His judgement may not have been the best at the time, but that didn't mean he had to be stupid. But, then again, what could make the situation any worse than it already was?
The son of Poseidon chugged down the whole bottle and dropped the empty plastic on the floor as he dropped his head backwards into the wall and closed his eyes. He knew who he was so he knew the water would help. He could feel it running through his body and it made him feel energized. He looked at Nico and studied his face a little more. It did look like Nico had aged a few years. Three was possible...
"What's going on?"
For the next hour, Nico filled Percy in on the occurrences of the last three years. He told him everything he knew about the others and the Camp, which wasn't much, but he tried. Percy was pretty confused and he had so many questions to ask.
"Annabeth?"
Nico shook his head. "I haven't seen any of them in three years, Percy."
"What have you been doing?"
"Looking for you." He said shortly. "No one else seemed to find it necessary, but I left shortly after you did. As far as I know, your mom doesn't know you're missing. Everyone at Camp had no clue you left the Argo II when you did, but they probably know now."
Percy sighed and placed his head in his hands. "So what now?"
"Now, you stick around with me. That's probably the best thing for you."
Percy was pretty confused still and he didn't figure asking any more questions would change that much so he let it go.
Nico stood from the floor and held out a hand for Percy to take. He was hesitant but he grabbed onto the appendage and pulled himself up with it.
"Stay here. I'm gonna go down to the lobby and get you something to eat. I can't imagine that living off of Lotus flowers for three years did you much good. I'll be back."
Nico left the room and Percy sat on the bed. He felt lost. Had it really been three years? If so, then he had no idea what was really going on in the world. A lot could change in three years.
As Percy sat on the bed he looked around the room and wondered exactly where he was. A thousand thoughts came back to his mind. He had asked Nico about his mom but Nico didn't have an answer. Was his mom even still alive? He had asked about Camp Half Blood but Nico hadn't been there in three years. Was the Camp even still around? Was Nico really the only one who had come looking for him? Annabeth hadn't? Grover hadn't? Then he wondered: Why Nico? He was the only one who believed that something had happened to Percy. He was the only one who believed he wasn't 'fine' like the others had. But what had made him think that?
Percy could hear something outside the door and he rolled off the bed and sat on the floor where he couldn't be seen from the door. It opened slowly and then closed. Percy could hear a few shuffling footsteps coming nearer to him. He panicked to himself but didn't move or make a sound. The footsteps came closer and he wrapped himself tightly in his arms. He could hear a clicking sound and footsteps coming closer to where he was hiding. The footsteps came around the bed and Percy knew there was no way he would be able to hide now.
"...Percy?"
Percy picked up his head and saw that the person was Nico. He managed to relax himself as much as a person could in such a situation.
"Are you hiding? Is there someone in here?" Nico whispered and lifted his gun and looked around the room again.
"No. There's no one in here." Percy's voice trembled. "I just heard something outside and I didn't know what it was."
Nico lowered his gun. "Was it me?"
Percy nodded his head.
Nico knew that being in The Lotus for so long could really mess a person up when they came back out. Percy's first time at the casino had been a five day adventure so he ended up being fine. But this time, three years, it really messed him up. It made his brain wonky and made him more afraid than he had ever been before. When Nico had been there for seventy years, he at least had Bianca to help him through it because she had been there, too. But Percy had no one. No one except Nico. And Nico wasn't sure what to do or say to the boy.
He went back to the dresser by the door and grabbed a Styrofoam box which he handed to Percy.
"What is it?"
"Chicken."
Percy opened the box and looked at the food for a moment before he picked up the plastic fork and started eating.The first few bites he took were gentle and slow but then his hunger took over and he ate the meat ravonously. Nico stared at him in curiosity and noticed that nothing about Percys physique had changed. His hair hadn't grown, he wasn't covered in facial hair, he didn't look dirty, he didn't look underfed. He looked just the same as he had the last time Nico had seen him three years ago.
It didn't take Percy long to finish eating the food in the box and when he did, he looked up at Nico. The son of Hades could tell that Percy still had plenty of questions to ask and he prepared himself to answer them.
"What's on your mind, Percy?"
"A lot."
"Like what?"
Percy turned himself around so he was facing Nico and swallowed hard. "Did the others really think I was fine?"
Nico nodded. "None of them seemed to think you were in any sort of danger at all. When they found out you hadn't gone back to camp, they figured you went home."
"But you didn't?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Something about the way you left."
Percy remained silent, not remembering anything. He didn't remember the way he left, why he left, if he had told anyone.
Nico figured as much and decided to fill Percy in. "You went in the dead of night. You didn't leave any sort of indication where you went or even that you were leaving at all. You just left. You didn't take any clothes with you, you didn't take any food, you didn't take any weapons. Your pen went, obviously, but that stays with you all the time."
Percy moved a hand down to his pocket and felt the pen within it. His sword, Riptide. It never left his pocket.
"Annabeth was worried for a while but not long enough to say so. I tried to convince her to look for you but she wouldn't have it. She said the quest was more important. When she reported to Camp about everything that went on, she included you to make everyone think you were still there."
Percy was puzzled. From what he remembered, he and Annabeth had done well together. "Why would she do that?"
"If she told anyone you were gone, they would put an end to the quest. That was the last thing she wanted."
As much as Percy wanted to believe Annabeth cared more than that for him, he knew her. She would put her own life in danger to finish something she started. "Did they finish the quest?"
"I'm assuming."
Percy nodded. "So, what have you been doing all this time?"
"I told you; looking for you."
Percy had forgotten but... "There has to have been something more."
"Well yeah, I guess."
Percy made a face indicating he wanted Nico to continue.
"I've held a few odd jobs here and there to make money."
"You already told me that. I want to know what exactly."
"Percy, those are things I can't tell you."
Percy was beyond confused. Nico had brought it up in the first place and now he wouldn't tell him.
"Why not?"
"They're not things you need to know."
"Don't I deserve to know?" Something in Percys voice caught Nico attention. It was almost desperation. A child-like desperation but desperation still.
"If I tell you, will you get scared and freak out?"
"Do people normally?"
"Sometimes."
Percy hesitated. "I'll try not to."
It was probably as good as Nico was going to get from the boy so he went with it. He figured he could just try to play it off as a joke if Percy didn't believe it.
"I started out selling drugs all over the country."
Percy eyes widened.
"That went well for a while until a client never paid me and my supplier got mad and tried to kill me. That lasted about six months. I worked as a bouncer at an underground, underage night club in Phoenix. I was only there for two months though. After that, I came here. I'm not really sure why, but something told me I would be able to find you here. I started prositituting and kept it up for only a month before I quit. I thought it was kind of funny that I got away without having sex, at all." He smirked a little and didn't pay the least bit of attention to Percys reaction. "After that I started what I do now. Out of everything, this might be the most shocking."
Percy nodded.
"I'm a hitman."
"What?"
"People, usually gang bangers, drug dealers, pimps, mobsters, hire me. They give me a name and from the name I find a location. Alot of the time, the name comes with some sort of information that I'm supposed to retrieve. Once the job is done, I go back to my hire and get paid."
Percy started to overflow with emotion. He had told Nico he wouldn't freak out but he had now broken that promise. He was just trying to keep his 'freak out' quiet. The first thought he had was maybe Nico was going to kill him. He decided against that, though, when he thought about what Nico had done for him. Then he wondered if he was in danger. He wondered if he should try to make a run for it. He had to try to stay as calm as possible.
"So, you kill people for a living?"
"It sounds really terrible when you say it like that but, yes. That's the basic concept."
Percy nodded once. "What about me?"
"What about you?"
How to put it... "Why am I here?"
"You're wondering if you're a target." Percy said nothing but Nico knew he had it the nail right on the head. He laughed once, airily, through b his nose. "Let me tell you something, no one I know knows you exsist. No one knows who you are. Why would someone hire me to kill you? The reason you're here is because I have been looking for you for the last three years and now I have finally found you. At this point, you need someone to walk you through how much life can change after the Lotus. I am, and probably am not, the best person to tell you that. And along the way, you might learn a little something about my world."
Percy froze. He wasn't quite sure what Nico was talking about but he was sure he didn't want to know. He wanted to go home. Not to camp. He wanted to go home to his mom. He wanted to get out of here, he wanted to get away from Nico. He hadn't trusted him before and now he trusted him less. And, along with that, he was truly afraid of him. All he wanted to do at the moment was get out of the room.
"Is it alright if I take a shower?"
Was he really asking permission... "I don't care."
Percy stood from the bed and almost ran toward the bathroom. He hadn't taken a shower in three years and he didn't realize how badly he felt he needed one until he saw running water. He stripped down quickly and climbed into the warm water. He hummed to himself as the liquid ran over his body. In that moment, he forgot everything. He forgot about the Lotus, he forgot about Nico and his 'job', he forgot where he was even. All that mattered was how good the water felt running over his body.
He scrubbed down every inch of himself until his skin was raw before he turned the water back off. He stood for a moment in the steamy shower and just leaned against the wall, breathing in the gaseous water. He cleared his mind completely before he stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. He dried himself and cleaned the steam off the mirror. He looked at his reflection. In all honesty, he had forgotten what he looked like. But now, he could see himself. He could see his shaggy brown hair and his green eyes. This was him.
He wrapped the towel around his waste and looked at his dirty clothes on the ground. He cringed when he thought about the fact he had been wearing them for three years. He really didn't want to put them on but he didn't have any clean clothes. But, he did have Nico. They were about the same size now.
He shamelessly left the bathroom in nothing but the towel around his waste and saw Nico on the bed, watching t.v.
"Nico?"
The son of Hades turned his head toward the bathroom door and saw Percy standing in nothing but a towel. He had never stopped being able to picture Percy in his minds eye but seeing him in person again was much better. He fought the feeling that was welling up inside of him.
"What?"
"I don't have any clothes..."
Nico coughed a little. His first though, an impulse, was to tell Percy to just walk around naked. "And you want to borrow some of mine?"
Percy shrugged. Nico stood from the bed and went to a backpack on the floor. He pulled out a t-shirt, sweatpants, and boxers and handed them to Percy.
"Wear these to sleep in and tomorrow we'll go out and get some, okay?"
Percy nodded and took the clothes. He looked at them and noticed they were all black. All but the boxers that were black and white plaid...
He went back into the bathroom and got dressed quickly before taking care of his things and heading back into the room.
Nicos heart raced when he saw Percy wearing his clothes. There was something about it. Nico may not have had sex with anyone when he was a prostitute, but that didn't mean that he hadn't gotten any and if he had grown to like anything about a person it was how they looked in his clothes after sex. He shook his head, dismissing the thought, and turned away.
Percy went back to 'his' bed and dropped the clothes on the floor before he climbed under the blankets. Nico turned the t.v off and climbed into his own bed before shutting off the light on the wall by his bed.
The two boys situated themselves until they were comfortable and then tried to get to sleep. Percy had a harder time of it than Nico and he found himself thinking again. He willed away the thoughts and he could feel exhaustion lightly creep up on him. Just before he closed his eyes to sleep, he whispered just loud enough for a half sleeping Nico to hear:
"Hey Nico?"
"Mmm."
"Thank you."
Nico rolled over to face Percys bed in the darkness, no longer half asleep. "For what?"
"Getting me out of the Lotus."
"Oh." Nico hadn't expected thanks for it. "You're welcome, I guess."
"Good night, Nico."
"Good night, Percy."
With that, Percy allowed the oncoming sleep to rush over him. He closed his eyes and embraced the dreams he had almost forgotten about. Nico, too, closed his eyes and drifted quickly to sleep.