Sea Green (Merman Percico)

Chapter Two

Getting the boy to Nico's house was very difficult. He weighed about 150 pounds and had a scraped tail. He was also a mermaid, meaning Nico had to keep him out of the public eye.

"What's that?" The boy asked with slight horror. "It's the bathtub," Nico said. Nico turned the water on filling the tub with what he considered cool water resembling the ocean.

"I could go get you some sea water if you want it," Nico offered. The boy had a melancholy expression when he said, "I would like that."

Nico made a plan to go down to the water later that day with a bucket to fill with seawater. He wanted the fish boy to be as comfortable as possible. Nico couldn't imagine how he must feel, being pulled away from his home and family to live with humans...with an injury leaving you vulnerable. He wondered what kind of horror stories the boy had heard, the things humans do to newly discovered creatures.

The boy looked at the water longingly. After the tub was filled Nico carefully helped the boy into the tub. "I can fix the temperature if you want," Nico offered.

"No no it's fine thank you. Do you live in this?" The boy looked around the tub and poked at the bar soap.

"No, we fill it with water and sit in it," Nico explained. The boy looked confused, and maybe a little disturbed, but splashed in it anyways. Water hit the floor making a small puddle. "You have to be careful. Water splashes out very easily and it can damage the floor," Nico said and mopped it up with a towel.

"Didn't you say that you could help me with my cut?" The boy asked after Nico mopped up his mess.

"Oh right sorry." Nico grabbed the first aid kit out of the cabinet over the sink. Their stepmother made them keep one in their rooms, stocked with everything they might need just in case.

"This might sting a little, but just stay still and it'll better," Nico said and got the can of germ spray. The boy looked at him with distrust immediately.

"You said you wouldn't hurt me!" he accused, his temper rising with his voice.

"I'm not. I'm trying to help but you need to kill the germs inside it so it won't get infected. Nico backed off just to give the boy some space. He didn't want to scare him anymore, but he also knew he needed to stop the bleeding. "It'll only sting a little. But it will kill the bacteria to help it heal."

The boy looked at his arm again. "Fine," he muttered after a while. "But it better help."

Nico nodded, "it will. I've used this stuff before a lot, it's worth it."

Nico slowly crouched down by the tub. He hesitated before carefully grabbing the boy's arm. The boy hissed as Nico sprayed his cut and yanked away.

"It'll stop in a few seconds," Nico said, "and then we can bandage it."

The boy looked at his arm, his facial expression slowly relaxed into a puzzled frown. This was the first time Nico was allowed to get this close without the boy freaking out. He took the time to study his face.

His features were handsome, from his sea green eyes to his pale pink lips. He was lean muscle built, with the outline of abs and strong thin arms. Nico stared at the boy longer than he planned to.

"What are you looking at?" The boy asked. Nico snapped up to meet his questionable gaze. "Nothing. What's your name?"

"Percy Jackson." He said as he rested his arm on the side of the tub. Nico got the gauze and bandage. "Nice to meet you. Hand me your arm again. I promise this part won't hurt."

Percy allowed Nico to fix up his arm. His tail was something Nico couldn't do much about. It wasn't like Percy would let him spray it.

"Are there more of you?" Nico asked. Percy looked at him like he was stupid. "Of course there are more of us. Where would I have come from? A crab?"

Nico felt like an idiot, but also annoyed. How was he supposed to know? Mermaids weren't supposed to exist in the first place.

"So you have houses under water?" Nico imagined Atlantis from Spongebob, but it obviously wouldn't look like that. "No, well, kind of." Percy said, "My family lives in a palace. But the others live in caves or houses they build out of sea stone."

The look on Nico's face seemingly made Percy go back and clarify. "My dad is Poseidon, the "god" of the ocean. He's not a real god though. More like a king, but that's too cheesy."

Nico was more confused than anything. "So, you're royalty?"

"Kinda yeah. But I still have a long time before I take my dad's place. Don't worry, you don't have to kiss my tail fins or anything."

Nico didn't know how to respond to that, so he didn't. Instead, Percy started asking his own questions. "How do you use those things?" he asked, looking at Nico's feet.

"Um, I walk on them." Percy frowned, "Can I touch it? I've always wanted feet."

Nico raised his eyebrows but cautiously set his foot on the side of the tub. Percy grabbed it and pulled to get a closer look, Nico had to grip the toilet seat in order to not fall on the floor.

"It's so weird," Percy said. "You have baby fingers on them." Nico almost laughed, but then Percy smelled of it, which was too strange to laugh at. Percy's eyes traveled up Nico's leg, "you have nice legs. I wish I had some."

Nico's cheeks turned hot, "thanks."

Percy gave Nico his foot back. "Um I'll get you some sea water." Nico slowly got up, "will you be okay for a few minutes?"

Percy nodded slowly, he looked around the bathtub at all the things Nico had around. "Just don't make a mess." Nico ran out of the bathroom and grabbed a pale for the water. Having a few minutes to think meant his brain went on overload. How would he take care of a mermaid? How would he keep this from his family?

He had his own bathroom, so as long as no one walked in, and Percy was very quiet, it might work until he gets better. But what do fish people eat? Would his family miss him? If his dad really is a king, then wouldn't he send some sharks or something to eat him for capturing his son? He was only trying to help... but would "Poseidon" believe that?

Nico was only gone for five minutes at most, but when he came back into the bathroom Percy had already soaked the floor and pulled the shower curtain off the wall, rod and all.

"What did you do?!" Nico exclaimed. He grabbed some towels. "I made room for the new water," Percy said like he didn't do anything wrong. "And that thing just fell off." He pointed at the curtain.

Nico sighed, "okay look, I don't live alone. My family will be back soon so you have to be quiet and clean. Please try not to break anything else."

"I'm sorry. All I did was pull it. I didn't mean to break it. And this is a small space, my tail needs some room." Percy moved his tail as to prove it. The bathtub was too small for him, and Nico felt bad about it. It was his idea to cramp him, with a lack of a better option.

"Sadly I can't do anything about that. When your arm heals you can go back to the ocean. Luckily this can be put back up there," Nico said as he picked up the curtain rod.

"Here's your water, will it be enough until tomorrow?" Nico poured the water into the bathtub. Percy smiled, "yes. thank you,"

Nico mopped up the water for the second time since Percy had first entered the bathroom.

"Nico! we're back! Come help with dinner!" Persephone yelled up. Nico dropped the wet towels in the hamper. "Stay in here and don't make a noise. I'll bring you some food later. What do you eat?"

"A lot of things, seaweed, shellfish, coral-"

"Anything I can get now?"

"Hmm, do you eat fish? I've seen humans hunt them too. By the way, not a fan of hooks."

Nico nodded, "I can get you some fish, we're supposed to be eating some tonight actually." Persephone called again, and Nico carefully closed the door behind him to head downstairs.

Sorry this took so long. Feedback would nice :)