Sea Green (Merman Percico)

Chapter Seven

Nico's POV

It's almost dinner time.

Nico had been wandering around, trying to find Percy, hoping against hope it wasn't too late. He couldn't believe what he said back at the smoothie place. Percy just made him so angry and embarrassed, he couldn't stop himself. Thinking about the time passing and how he could've already swum away as Nico sat at that table was killing him, but it was the anger of what Percy accused him of that kept him there.

But now, several hours later, Nico was kicking himself for letting Percy go. He couldn't deny it anymore: he was falling for the merman. Falling hard, and he insulted him before letting him walk away. He couldn't blame Percy if he never wanted to talk to him again if he's still even on land.

Nico's eyes scanned the beach again, which was now almost completely empty. Percy was nowhere to be found. Nico's heart sunk so low he no longer felt it. He was gone. Gone, and it was his fault.

Nico's knees wobbled so hard he had to sit on the sand. How did everything go so wrong so quickly? With his head in his hands, he sat there and cursed himself to hell. He couldn't even apologize, which just made the whole thing worse.

After a while, Nico stood up and dusted the sand from his pants. How could he, how could he let that happen? He brought Percy there and almost completely ignored him the whole time, just to insult him after Will left. I'm such a terrible person, he thought over and over. He walked past his house and down to the rocky ledge. It was his favorite spot before he found Percy, but at the moment, it was just a place for him to sit and sulk. The last place he wanted to be at anyway was his room.

Nico had only made it over the first rock when he noticed Percy sitting down at the bottom. He was facing the ocean, salty breeze flowing through his hair. Nico's heart skipped into a sprint right out of his chest. Hope crashed into him so hard, his breath caught. "Percy!" Nico yelled over the waves without thinking. He was so relieved to see he wasn't too late that he forgot about the chance Percy wouldn't forgive him.

Percy stood up and turned to look up where Nico was on the rocks. Fear struck, what if he's still mad and just jumps in the water? "Percy I'm sorry!" he yelled. He ran the best he could down rocks, checking to make sure Percy was waiting on him. Thankfully, he was still standing there when Nico made it down.

"I'm so, so sorry. I didn't mean what I said." Nico babbled off immediately once he was in front of Percy. The waves still crashed against the rocks, but now standing a few feet from each other, Nico no longer had to shout to be heard. Percy glanced down at his feet, the shoes Nico gave him were still on them. "I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to confront you like that and I have no idea why I did. It's just... seeing you so relaxed with Will made me... jealous."

Nico held his breath for a second in a feeble attempt to even out his breathing. "Jealous? Why would you be jealous?"

Percy's cheeks turned pink as his eyes moved anywhere but to meet Nico's own. Finally, he did, "because now that I'm human, I thought I had a chance with you."

Nico could feel his face heating. The warm salty mist cooling his blush. This was like one of those cheesy beach scenes you watch in movies or read in books, but instead of sobering him up, that realization only made him more flustered. "you like me?"

Percy nodded awkwardly. Nico sat on the nearest flat rock, "wow," he whispered. Percy hesitated but came over to sit right beside him. "That's not a bad thing, right?"

"No it's not," Nico said quietly. The ocean seemed to have calmed for them. It was no longer loud or reckless, but peaceful. "I like you too. Is it... wrong where you live?" Nico noted Percy acted indifferent to him mentioning Will's boyfriend, but it was always good to see where someone sat with their comforts.