Waiting (a pernico fic)

Chapter 2

Nico drifted around the camp, seriously considering going to Leo and talking to him. On the other hand, he was unsure if he wanted to follow Percy's advise. After all, he gave it, not knowing he was advising how to get Nico to tell him. All Nico knew was that he was conflicted on wether to tell Percy at all. What if he didn't see him that way? What if he laughed at him? Well, that was unlikely, but not enough not to put into consideration.
Nico looked up and saw he'd wandered to the Athena cabin and decided, What the hell? I'll talk to Annabeth. He walked in and saw her laying on her bed, fiddling with Daedalus's laptop. Nico'd never been good with electronics, so he had no clue what she was doing. "Hey," he spoke up, getting her attention. She seemed surprised by his appearance and gestured for him to sit. He complied. "What's up?" Nico inspected the toes of his ratty sneakers for a few moments, then spoke. "I need your advise."
"About what?" She moved from laying on her stomach to sitting cross legged. "I... um..." Crap, how would he word this? "There's this... person that I like and... I wanna tell them and yet I don't." She nodded. "Well, why not talk to an Aphrodite child? They're better at affairs of the heart." Nico chewed the inside of his cheek. "'Cause I don't want it spread around camp."
"Oh, gotcha. Well, who is it? That would help determine how to proceed." Nico was silent a few moments. "Well?" Nico couldn't bring himself to say it. "You're embarrassed, I get it. OK, do I know them?" Nod. "Dark or light skin?"
"Tan."
"Um... tall or short?"
"Tall."
"Hmm... Tan and tall... dark hair?" Nod. She cracked a smile. "Is it Reyna?" Nico balked at her. "Gods, no!" She laughed and he hid his face in his hands. "Well, who else do I know who's tall, dark and tan who... oh." Nico met her eyes and knew she'd figured it out. "Yeah."
"Well, just... tell him. Go up to him and grab him by the collar and say, 'Perseus Jackson, I want to go out with you.' Anything else and poor Seaweed Brain might never get it." Nico chuckled at that. "Do you think he'd say yes?" She smiled warmly at that. "Definitely."
~page break~
Percy's p.o.v.
Percy paced uncomfortably, waiting for Annabeth, who'd insisted that she needed to talk to him after dinner. He had a feeling it had to do with Nico, but didn't want to jinx it. He heard rapid footsteps and saw a familiar head of blonde curls. She stopped short of colliding with him and panted, "Come with me." With that, she yanked him by his wrist toward the forest.
Once she stopped, she grabbed him by the shoulders and said, "You won't believe this. Nico came to talk with me today and asked me how he should tell you he likes you." Percy grinned ear-to-ear and asked, "So what did you say?"
"To tell you outright, but you know Nico, he might not. So, I have a plan."
"Tell me."
"First, I need you to agree to trust me implicitly. Alright?" Percy nodded. "Ok, repeat after me, I love Nico diAngelo." Wrinkling his eyebrows, he obeyed. "Like you mean it."
"I love Nico. But you already know that. Shouldn't I be saying that to him?" Annabeth laughed. "Yes, but you need to get used to saying it, because that's part of the plan." Percy paled. Gods, what's she gonna make me do?