Work Text:
The rain started halfway through the battle.
Jason and Nico were in a forest just south of nowhere, fighting a small army of Cyclopes and Stymphalian birds. They had been hunting down the leftovers from Gaea’s army for a few months now, though they had only been tracking this particular group for a day or so.
It wasn’t a particularly hard battle, but it took a long time to get rid of all the enemies. Jason was completely exhausted by the end of it, but he suspected Nico was even worse, judging by his heavy breathing and the way his shoulder slumped. The cold rain didn’t help any.
Jason gently patted Nico’s back. “Come on, let’s get back to the tent,” he said. “You don’t look like you’re up for shadow travel, and we need to get out of this rain.”
“Right,” Nico said, tiredly shrugging Jason’s hand off. He looked like he was sleepwalking as they made their way through the woods back to the tent they had brought in case the mission took longer than expected. They had already spent some hours there yesterday, after deciding they would be too tired to fight the monsters even if they found them that day.
It took them about half an hour to get back to the tent, and the rain only increased. Jason kept looking worriedly over at Nico, who was shivering from the cold. By this point they were both soaked through and through and Jason really wished they had thought to bring a change of clothes on this mission.
Thankfully, the inside of the tent was dry. Jason sighed in relief as he closed the entrance behind them, then he looked over at Nico again. The tent colored everything slightly orange, but Jason could see that he was paler than usual and still shivering.
“Take off your clothes,” Jason told him, and Nico’s eyes went wide.
“What?” he spluttered.
“You’re completely soaked. You’ll catch a cold sitting around in wet clothes,” Jason said, moving to take off his own t-shirt. “Just take off your clothes and get into your sleeping bag. That’s what I’m planning to do.”
Nico blushed and hastily looked away from Jason as he started unbuttoning his pants. “Fine,” Nico muttered, turning his back as he got undressed. Jason forced himself not to stare at Nico’s naked back and entered his sleeping bag. He felt a lot warmer already.
“Better?” Jason asked when Nico had done the same. The boy nodded, his face slightly red, but he was still shivering.
“I would sell my soul for some hot chocolate,” he said, and Jason laughed.
“Yeah, me too. Or anything else that’s warm,” he agreed. “You should try to get some sleep.”
“I know. It’s just so cold ,” Nico complained. “I hate sleeping in tents.”
“I don’t mind it, but it’s not that fun when it’s raining,” Jason said, closing his eyes. The rain was still pouring down at the canvas above him. It would have been a soothing sound, if it hadn’t been mixed with Nico’s sniffles. When Nico’s teeth started to chatter Jason decided something needed to be done.
He sat up, looking at the shivering boy beside him. “Nico, you awake?”
There was no answer, so Jason reached out to touch his shoulder. Nico opened his eyes, looking up at him in confusion.
“What is it?” he asked weakly through his chattering teeth.
“You’re really cold, aren’t you?” Jason asked, waiting for Nico to nod before continuing. “Don’t freak out. I’m going to zip our sleeping bags together.”
“You’re going to what?” Nico asked, watching wide eyed as Jason opened the zippers to both their sleeping bags and attached them to each other, essentially creating a larger bag. He was glad he had thought of checking if the bags were compatible before they left, though it had been more out of indulging himself in a fantasy than for any practical reason.
Nico was tense as Jason put his arms around him and pulled him close. His mostly bare body felt pretty cold against Jason’s. Nico had left his underwear on, which was probably a good thing. Jason hadn’t.
“Um,” Nico said, sounding uncertain. His face was rapidly growing even redder.
“It’s warmer this way, isn’t it?” Jason asked.
“Well, yeah, but it’s a little...” Nico begun, then sighed. “You know what? Fine. I’m too tired to argue.”
Jason chuckled. “Good. Go back to sleep.”
It took a while before Nico finally relaxed in his arms. His teeth had stopped chattering, but he was still shivering. Jason gently pulled him just a little bit closer, trying to cover as much of the boy's thin body as he could with his own. Still, he made an effort to keep their hips apart. Nico was uncomfortable enough already.
Jason closed his eyes, trying not to think about the fact that they were both more or less naked. It was hard not to, considering he could feel Nico’s bare skin against his own, slowly becoming warmer. Yeah, he had imagined being wrapped up around Nico like this plenty of times in the last few months, but these were not the circumstances he had thought it would be. Not that he had expected it to happen. Nico still liked Percy after all. The thought made Jason frown. He had no right to be jealous, not really, but he was.
It had been creeping up on him ever since he first got to know a bit about Nico, back in Croatia. He had attempted to befriend the boy aboard the Argo II, and after Gaea was defeated he had continued, with a bit more success. He even managed to convince Nico to join him in hunting down the rest of Gaea’s forces. The only trouble was that the better he got to know Nico, the more he liked him. He wasn’t even sure at what point friendship had turned into desire, but Piper had realized before he did, and gently broke up with him.
And now here he was, lying naked with his arms around the boy he had a crush on. It was agony and bliss at the same time. As long as Nico was shivering he could convince himself that he did it purely to keep the boy warm, but once Nico finally slept comfortably beside him it became harder. Jason figured he should probably turn his back towards Nico instead, now that the boy was warm enough. For his own sanity’s sake. Yeah. He should.
He didn’t.
Instead he just lay awake, looking down at Nico’s sleeping face with a smile. It was a rare sight, and he couldn’t get enough of it. Not to mention it was unlikely he’d see it again anytime soon. He remained like that until Nico moved in his sleep, snuggling closer to Jason, which would have been fine if he hadn’t brought their hips together as well.
Jason let out an involuntary moan as Nico brushed against him, then reminded himself that it was purely accidental and didn't mean anything. He gently pushed Nico away and closed his eyes tightly, trying to force himself to calm down. His nether parts weren’t so easily convinced.
“Jason? Is something wrong?” Nico asked beside him. He sounded sleepy, but worried. Apparently Jason’s moan had been enough to wake him up.
Jason opened his eyes and tried to smile at him. “I’m fine. It’s just getting a little warm in here.”
“Oh. Sorry,” Nico said, blushing slightly, and it really wasn’t fair how cute he was when he did that. “We can sleep separately if you want.”
“Yeah, that would probably be best,” Jason agreed, looking away from Nico’s face.
Nico was silent for a moment, then sat up on his elbows. “Did I...did I do something?” he asked, sounding a little frightened.
“Like what?” Jason asked, confused. It was Nico’s turn not to look at him now.
“You’re acting strange. Did I do something inappropriate?” Nico asked. Jason was honestly surprised at the question.
“No, you didn’t,” Jason said, sitting up as well, ignoring the throbbing between his legs as he did. “Why do you ask?”
Nico turned red. “Because you were holding me and you’re naked and...Gods, I can’t do this,” he said, looking up at the canvas above them.
“You didn’t do anything,” Jason sighed. “If anyone is being inappropriate here, it’s me, but I swear I didn’t plan this.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Mostly the fact that I should have told you I have a crush on you before I dragged you into a sleeping bag with me,” Jason said. “Sorry. But you were borderline hypothermic and I didn’t know what else to do.”
“What?” Nico asked, wide eyed.
“I have a crush on you,” Jason repeated. “So if I’m acting strange right now it’s because, like you said, I was holding you just now and we’re both more or less naked. I didn’t mean for this. I'm sorry.”
Nico kept staring at him for a while. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he finally asked.
“Because you still have feelings for Percy. I didn’t want to make things awkward,” Jason said. “But I guess I have now, anyway.”
“I don’t have feelings for Percy anymore. Not like that,” Nico said, frowning at him. “Are you serious, though? You actually want me ?”
“That should be pretty obvious,” Jason said, smiling slightly. “But it’s okay, you don’t have to do anything.”
“What if I want to?” Nico asked. Jason stared at him for a moment.
“Really?”
Nico blushed. “I didn’t think I had a chance,” he said, his lip quivering slightly. “But I want to.”
Slowly, not sure if he would be permitted to, Jason leaned over to press their lips together. Nico answered immediately, inexperienced but desperate. He allowed Jason to deepen the kiss, and moaned quietly into his mouth. Jason’s insides were shaking at the sound. He wanted this so much, and Nico was letting him have it. Encouraging him, even, putting his arms around Jason to drag him down. Jason was on top of Nico now, supporting himself with one arm while the other was cupping Nico’s face.
Jason finally pulled back enough to look at Nico’s face. He looked dazed, watching Jason through half closed lids, but his eyes were dark and hungry. Starved.
“Is this okay?” Jason asked, and Nico blushed, but nodded. Smiling, Jason went on to suck at Nico’s neck, hard enough to leave marks. Nico gasped and moaned at every touch, obviously not used to it. In all likelihood Jason was the first person to ever touch him like this. The thought did nothing to calm him down. If Nico as much as touched him right now he’d probably come on the spot.
“Jason,” Nico said between moans. “Jason, please , I need...”
Jason reached up to kiss him again, then dragged him up into a sitting position. The double sleeping bag restricted their movements a bit, but it became easier as Jason moved to straddle Nico’s legs. Nico looked down between them, seemingly embarrassed and fascinated at the same time, as Jason slowly reached out for the waistband of Nico’s tight underwear. He glanced back up at Nico before going any further.
“Can I?” he asked hopefully. Nico rolled his eyes and reached out to wrap his hand around Jason’s erection as an answer. Jason moaned loudly into Nico’s neck, trying to think of horrible things in order to not embarrass himself by coming immediately. He reached into Nico’s underwear, and heard Nico’s breath hitch as he pulled him free. Jason started with slow strokes, and felt Nico fall into pace with him, letting him take the lead. He gently bit into Nico’s shoulder as he increased the pace, and Nico gasped in between panting for breath. He didn’t last long after that, and seeing Nico’s expression of pure ecstasy as he screamed Jason’s name quickly pushed Jason over the edge as well.
Nico collapsed against him, breathing heavily against his neck, and Jason held him tightly, never wanting to let go. However, a while later Nico pushed him back, smiling shyly.
“We should probably go to sleep,” he mumbled. Jason leaned in for a gentle kiss before nodding.
“Yeah, we should,” he said, carefully moving off Nico’s legs and lowering them back down. He pulled Nico closer again, putting his arms around him and breathing in his scent. He kinda wished they could just stay like this forever.
He didn’t realize he had said it out loud before Nico chuckled. “It would likely get boring after a while.”
“You’re probably right,” Jason smiled. “Besides, there are still so much I want to do with you.”
Nico blushed, but there was a small grin on his lips. “Just as long as it’s not in a sleeping bag or in a tent,” he said, and Jason laughed, kissing his eyelid.
“I can work with that.”
END