Sun Spot [Valdangelo/Leico]

Birthday Boy

For most young teenage boys, a birthday is important. It's a day his parents are supposed to tell him they're so proud to have such a wonderful son, and they're supposed to give him presents. Then his friends are supposed to tell him "Happy Birthday!" at school, maybe give him something, too. It's supposed to be a happy, fun day with cake and lots of love.

But you see, when you're a demigod son of Hades with a dead mother and a dead sister, it's just not going to be like that. Ever.

"Happy Birthday, Nico!" is the first thing he hears when he walks outside the Hades cabin. He jumps a little, but exhales deeply when he sees just what dork decided to surprise the angry kid.

"Leo, don't." Nico shuts the door behind him before glancing around, then back to Leo. "I don't have any reason to celebrate."

The son of Hephaestus looks mildly offended, but mostly disappointed. He wants Nico to be happy on his birthday more than anything. It's not like he wants him to change, no, just... smile for him a little more. He grins, walking up beside the raven-haired boy once again.

"Sure you do, birthday boy!" Leo jumps in front of him and begins walking backwards. "You have me, after all." he boldly takes Nico's hand in his, swinging it back and forth. Nico yanks it away.

"Leo, stop!" he whisper-yells, "I don't want anyone to know-" he sees how crestfallen Leo is, and adds, "yet." With another deep sigh, the boys situate to see the campers running around and participating in a wide array of activities.

Leo glances at his boyfriend. ...Yes, boyfriend. The two demigods began their relationship a few months ago, after the defeat of Gaea and the joining of the two camps. Nico had insisted they keep to themselves about it, though, since neither of them had ever come out before. Jason Grace is the only person who knows about Nico's sexuality, and thank the gods- he's totally supportive. He tried to convince Nico that it would be okay to come out to the rest of the group, but no, Nico won't dare to let it out. The idea is enough to make him sick to his stomach.

"Sooo... what's the plan, birthday boy?" Leo asks curiously, snapping Nico back to reality.

"What?"

"For your birthday, silly. You're 15, remember?" his boyfriend teases.

"Oh," the son of Hades swallows a lump in his throat. "Oh, yeah. I don't know. I haven't celebrated a birthday in, like, 70 years."

Leo laughs. In all honesty, it's a bit on the annoying side, as admitted by many of his closest friends. But Nico likes it. It makes his heart skip a beat every time the sound comes to his ears. "Nico, Nico, Nico. Where should we start? I say we make up for 70 years of lost birthdays. 70 cakes, maybe? You want male strippers or something? I'm sure Piper's dad has connections."

Nico playfully punches him in the arm and smiles as genuinely as he knows how to. "I don't really care, you know. I just want you."

The brunette fakes a gasp, covering his mouth with his hands. "Nico!" he yelps dramatically, "I'm underage!"

Nico rolls his eyes, a tinge of pink covering his cheeks and a grin stuck on his face. "Gods, Leo, I just meant as, you know, the best boyfriend in the world." Leo smiles sweetly in return. He leans over to steal a tiny kiss from his boyfriend, but Nico gently pushes him away and steps around him.

"Hey, guys!" Percy calls from behind Leo, a box in his arms. Oh no.

Leo turns so that they can both face the beaming son of Poseidon. The pyrokinetic demigod has to think about Nico's intoxicatingly adorable smile a million times over to stop himself from burning Percy's face off and yelling, You idiot! I was this close to kissing the cutest guy in the world! Gr! 

"So, I heard it's your 15th birthday, Nico," Percy hands the box to his friend. He accepts it hesitantly, mumbling a little "thank you," before looking at the older demigod confusedly. "Go ahead and open it! Annabeth helped me pick it out." Annabeth. How awkward it feels to hear her name. Everyone still thinks he has a big crush on her, when all this time he's actually been macking on Leo Valdez for months now.

Nico tears the paper away mercilessly, crinkling it up and shoving it in Leo's arms, who burns it absent-mindedly. He lifts the top of the box cautiously, waiting for some sort of weird punchline, like, Ha-ha! Just kidding, we hate you and we know you're gay. This box isn't empty, though, it's full of our disappointment. Happy freakin' Birthday. It's not filled with any emotions, though, but instead a black pullover hoodie with the white Fall Out Boy logo printed on the front of it. 

"I know how much you love your aviator jacket, but it's pretty heavy, and it's... getting a little ratty." it's true. The once-fluffy-fluff in the hood is anything BUT soft, and the threads on the cuffs of the sleeves are torn and frayed. Of course, there are obvious rips here and there from sword fighting and monster hunting, but most of them have been messily sewn up by Hazel and her limited knowledge of sewing techniques. Nico gives a ghost of a smile. 

"Thank you, Percy. It'll work." 

Percy holds a thumbs-up to commemorate his own work- well, Annabeth's, probably- and claps his hands together. "Great! If you fish around in there some more, there's another little thing I picked out."

Nico buries his hand in the colored paper once more until his fingers hit something like cool metal. He snatches it up and immediately examines it. A little silver skull pin.

Percy shrugs. "I thought it was cool. You don't have to wear it if you don't want to, though." Nico holds it up to the light and really smiles. He thinks about what he would have done a year ago had Percy done this and mentally smacks himself. Curse him for being such a crushable guy.

"It's great, I'll wear it. Tell Annabeth I said thanks, too." he shows Leo the pin, and they mutter and giggle about something secretively, earning a puzzled look from the demigod standing by. 

"You know, guys, I'm really happy you two became such good friends. I never would have guessed you'd hit it off so well." he tries to figure out the nature of their close relationship as he walks away from the unusual scene. Boyfriends...? No, impossible. Nico likes Annabeth. Nico is straight. Nico is... is Nico straight? Wow, how much does he actually know about Nico? He shrugs it off. It's probably just a bromance, like him and Jason. Come to think of it, though, there were those 3 waitresses at those 3 different restaurants who thought they were gay.

...

Oh, gods. Nico di Angelo is a demigay, isn't he?

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A/N: First Valdangelo, yay! I love this ship so, so much. Also, the term "demigay" at the end is taken from a friend who also ships Leico. (Her tumblr is demigaytier.) Just clearing things up...! Also, cover art is made from the much-loved Viria. 

Expect updates at least weekly, since I have other fics going as well. I'm really interested in writing these guys.