Superman

Imperfect

OW: As we said, we are only saying this once.

DH: Per chapter.

OW: We don't own Percy Jackson or Heroes of Olympus.

-DDLDHoW-

Nico Di Angelo was broken and Jason knew it. He could tell from the way that the son of Hades would tense up whenever anyone entered the room or how his eyes would widen ever so slightly in fear if someone other than Hazel made physical contact with him.

He could tell by the way his eyes were always red and puffy in the mornings, which he claimed to be because of 'lack of sleep', and by the way he would tremble slightly and avoid eye contact when people talked to him.

He could tell by the way he clammed up if there was more than two people in the room, and if those two people were anyone other than Hazel and Jason, and by the way he irritably blew his bangs out of his eyes rather than brushing them out of the way with his hand like he had used to.

He also knew that no one else seemed to notice that Nico was broken. Annabeth and Percy were still traumatised from Tartarus and almost dying at the Doors of Death while Leo was busy repairing and upgrading the ship, and thinking about something or other. Jason suspected that it had something to do with whatever had happened when Khione had seperated him from the others. Piper tried to avoid the son of Hades, because... well, he kind of scared her. Hazel was busy trying to practice using the Mist with Frank's help, and Frank was helping Hazel as well as being overawed by his praetorship. 

Jason seemed to be the only one who realised how much Nico was hurting inside.

Which was why he didn't fall asleep when Nico told him to. Instead, he lay awake, waiting for Nico to retire to bed as well. After about an hour when Jason's eyes were being dragged closed by exhaustion, he heard someone walk into the room beside his and he smiled contentedly, knowing that Nico slept there.

However, even with the knowledge that Nico was safely in his room, Jason couldn't sleep. The Ghost King just kept coming back to his mind, whenever he tried to think of something else.

If he thought of pasta, his mind would link it to Italy, which was where Nico was from.

If he thought of a game, his mind would link it to Mythomagic, which was still Nico's favourite game - as much as he tried to deny it.

If he thought of cats, his mind would link them to kittens and how Nico would sometimes look like an angry kitten when he glared.

Jason groaned and turned onto his stomach, burrying his head in his pillow.

Everything about Nico was filling his mind, and it confused him. Even when he kissed Piper, he would find himself thinking of Nico and subconsciously wishing that it was him he was kissing rather than his own girlfriend.

Jason sighed and turned onto his back again, almost falling off the bed in the process of doing so. Before he could contemplate any more on the matter, he heard a muffled scream from the other room.

The noise made him jump, topple off the bed and land on the wooden floor with a groan. After recovering, he stood up and ran into Nico's room to find him curled up in the fetal position, a haunted look in his eyes as silent tears slid down his cheeks.

He looked up and glared at Jason, but the tears and terrified expression on his face took away from the fear it was supposed to insinuate. "W-what do you want, G-Grace?"

"Nothing, I-" Jason blinked. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I heard someone scream."

"Must h-have been your imagination..." Nico mumbled, looking down at his knees. "I-I'm fine..."

Even if he hadn't heard the pained fear in Nico's voice, Jason would have known he was lying. Normally, Nico would yell at him for coming into his room, especially without knocking. He also would have made some kind of Superman comment by that stage, and he probably would have summoned a skeleton to shove Jason out of his room.

How he would have gone about doing the final step considering how far they were from the ground, Jason didn't know. But he had a feeling that the Ghost King would have found a way.

Jason took one more look at Nico before closing the door, walking over to the bed and sitting down beside Nico, wrapping his arms around him.

Nico immediately tensed. "What're you-"

"You don't need to hide the fact that you're scared," Jason murmured softly. "I can tell." Tears welled up in Nico's eyes and for the first time, Jason saw him as he probably saw himself; weak, vulnerable and lonely. Imperfect. "Cry; you deserve to after all you've been through."

Nico did cry. Several times. By the end of it, Jason's shirt was completely soaked, but he didn't care.

Eventually, Nico fell into an uneasy sleep, still wrapped in Jason's arms, his head resting on the blonde's chest.

Jason felt a soft blush rise to his cheeks. Nico looked pretty cute when he was sleeping, no scowl on his face. He looked peaceful.

Then realisation shook Jason like Mrs. O'Leary shook the sheilds she used as firsbees. I'm in love with Nico Di Angelo...

-DDLDHoW-

OW: Yay! Done!

DH: Review time!

OW: We'll take turns at answering reviews every chapter.

DH: My turn first!

@Daughter-OfPoseidon: Thanks, imoto-chan! Hope you like this chapter as well!