#I had to do callbacks to PJO era Percico

[doevademe]

Now I just gotta ask (and I bet you saw it coming) a drabble of Percy's proposal to Nico ✨️🙏please?

Everything was going according to plan.

Things were going great, perfect, even. He knew better than to hide the ring inside food or do something Nico would hate like pop the question in public. It was just going to be a nice walk in the park under the moonlight, and then proposing by Orpheus's entrance to the Underworld.

(It was romantic, okay? It was a place that they visited together, and the entrance itself only existed because of Orpheus being too in love with his wife to let her go.)

The only thing Percy failed to take into account, was the demigod factor.

Also known as the 'neither the gods nor monsters will ever let you be' factor.

"I don't remember anything about Orthrus being this resistant," Nico panted as he evaded another swipe of the two-head dog's gigantic paws. "Did we do something to it?"

"I mean, we technically killed its master," Percy said, remembering Geryon.

"That was almost twelve years ago!" Nico protested. "Where was it when you pierced his three hearts with an arrow?"

Apparently it was the wrong thing to say, as the dog snarled and used its whole body to pin Nico to the ground. His boyfriend squirmed to get away from the two maws trying to bite his face off.

"Get off him, you two-headed freak!" Percy yelled, stabbing him with Riptide. The dog yowled and swiped at him, giving Nico enough room to roll away.

"Percy!" Nico gasped at the new wound on his arm. He turned to glare at Orthrus. "That's enough!"

He raised his arm and started chanting, opening the earth for skeleton hands to hold the monster down.

However, Orthrus was smarter than either of them thought, as he used his second head to bite Nico's outstretched hand, making Nico scream.

"Nico!" He said, but before he could say or do anything more, a large shadow jumped over him.

Percy barely had time to raise his sword up as the shadow went past him and attacked Orthrus.

Snarling dangerously as she attached herself to the monster's neck, Mrs. O'Leary bit and thrashed violently, while Orthrus could do nothing with the skeletal hands holding him down.

"Good girl," both of them said at the same time. Nico smiled at him, but it came more as a wince as he struggled to keep the skeletons on Orthrus.

"I'll finish this," Percy said, approaching and whistling for Mrs. O'Leary to retreat. Orthrus had only half a second of respite before Percy plunged Riptide right on his wound, driving the sword up and taking off both heads at once.

The body thrashed as the skeletons kept dragging it down as it slowly turned to dust.

"Maybe when it reforms Eurytion can train him better," Percy commented, only to drop the sword at Nico hissing in pain. "You okay?"

Nico's hand was all bloody, with prominent bite marks on his wrist. Percy looked at it in worry.

"Nothing some ambrosia can't fix," Nico said, chuckling weakly. "Sorry I ruined the night."

"Don't say that," Percy said as he helped him up. It would take them a while to reach their apartment in Queens, where they kept their stash of ambrosia, unless... "Hey girl, think you can give us a lift?"

Mrs. O'Leary barked happily and knelt down.

"Sorry," Nico repeated. "You even said tonight was special and all, and I wasn't careful enough."

"I just wanted you to dress nice," Percy said gently, helping him up their dog's back. "It's more important that you are okay. Let's go home," he said both to him and to Mrs. O'Leary, whose ears turned back as she ran into a tree's shadow.

They appeared in the alleyway neir their building. Percy petted behind the dog's ears and promised her the biggest steak he could buy soon, making her slobber all over them.

"Even if it's not my fault, I'm still sorry your plan didn't pan out," Nico said, looking at his hand and frowning.

"Nico, nothing is ruined," Percy said. He looked around, was he really going to do this on a dingy alleyway by their building, with their giant hellhound as their witness and covered in dog slobber? "In fact, if tonight reminded me of something, is that we can't take each day for granted."

Yes, he was.

He knelt down and gave his best smile. Nico's eyes widened.

"Nico di Angelo, you are the most amazing person I have ever met," Percy said trying to remember the speech he had prepared. Most of it had references to Orpheus and Eurydice, though, so that was out. "I don't ever want to lose you like... like it could have happened today."

"Y-you're freaking out over me getting injured," Nico reasoned. "You don't even have—"

Percy pulled out the ring box, his smile turning sheepish.

"That's why tonight was special," he said. "So, what do you say? Will you marry me?"

Nico frowned and looked down to his side. Percy felt a slight surge of panic.

"My hand is fucked up right now," he muttered. Percy frowned, not understanding where Nico was going. "You can't put the ring on."

Percy's eyes widened before laughing. Leave it to Nico to worry over such a thing.

"Is that a yes?"

"Did you ever believe I would say no?" Nico asked back. "I have loved you ever since I met you."

"Nico..."

His fiance sighed.

"Yes, Percy Jackson, I will marry you," he said. He used his healthy hand to scrub at his face before any tears could spill. "Keep the ring until after I have this healed, though. I want you to put it on me."

"So traditional," Percy teased. Mrs. O'Leary barked happily.

"And that's why you're marrying me," Nico shot back.

"That, and a million other reasons."

#Percico #my writing #ask #anonymous #writing prompt #I had to do callbacks to PJO era Percico #it seemed fitting