Room 507, Saturday Evening

[dontvotemeout]

Jason and Nico had had every intention of going on an actual date tonight. At least, that had been the plan until their evening out had been cut short by an angry waiter who didn't understand that people had offerings of food to make, and that the fire hadn't been that big, and the napkins they'd used to snuff the flames were already were already frayed so they would have had to throw them out anyway.

The new plan involved pizza and the safety of Jason's room, which Jason decided should have been their plan all along. "I didn't even want to go to Outback, to be honest. Nothing on the menu looked as good as pizza," he said, trying to make Nico feel better as they sat down on his bed.

[For one!]

Comments

[dontvotemeout]

"You mean when you make it past your teens, right?" Jason said, trying to match Nico's smirk but failing.

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

"Right, when." It just wasn't all that likely considering everything in his life plus the typical demigod lifespan. "Interesting what careers the office thought I might be good at, though."

[dontvotemeout]

Jason was tempted to press the issue of Nico's lifespan, but he decided not to right now. "Well, slipping into the shadows would help you courier illegal goods," he pointed out. "I'm not so sure about bounty hunting though."

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

"You'd probably be surprised by how good I am at finding things people don't want found," Nico shared, going for more pizza. "Information, people. With the right motivation I'm pretty capable."

[dontvotemeout]

"I'm not surprised that you're capable of doing things you want to do," Jason said. "And I'm not really surprised that you're capable of doing something that sounds so cool. So maybe the school was on the right track after all."

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

Nico laughed, "You think it sounds cool? They both sound a little like someone's setting me up to do evil."

[dontvotemeout]

"Well, moving illegal goods around would be bad. But don't bounty hunters catch people who are trying not to get arrested?" Jason asked. "That wouldn't be evil."

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

"They guy talking about the bounty hunters suggested shooting first and not bothering with questions later," Nico informed him. "Didn't sound like it was on the up and up to me."

[dontvotemeout]

That got Jason to make a face as he grabbed a second piece of pizza. "Don't be that kind of bounty hunter then," he said simply. "You can choose to be a good one instead. What you do is your choice, isn't it?" It wasn't that way for everyone he knew, so he had to ask.

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

"I'm not really that kind of demigod," Nico admitted. "You know, like the children of Athena who end up president or something. When my half siblings got power, bad stuff happened a lot of the time. I'm more monster-bait than anything else." It probably wasn't something Jason wanted to hear, but it was the truth.

[dontvotemeout]

No, Jason didn't like hearing that at all, and he had to work hard to try to hide his frowning. "So, you have to avoid bad stuff and monsters. That sounds doable," he said with a hopeful tone.

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

"Right. I've managed for seventy-some years, right? Can't be too hard." Though with the company he kept now, it was only going to get harder. "You've got the whole super hero future to look forward to huh?"

[dontvotemeout]

"I hope so," Jason said, looking much happier at this topic. "The last guy who had my job is out on his own now. In another few years, that could be me too. I mean, it will be me. Definitely."

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

"Now that sounds cool. I wouldn't be upset with a future that involved hanging out with crime fighters for a living, beating in bad guy's faces, and whatever else you do with all that nerdy reading." He paused realizing he would never do any of the nerdy reading. "Okay, maybe I'd stick with the fighting and hanging out parts." No one could blame Nico.

[dontvotemeout]

"The nerdy reading isn't totally nerdy," Jason said, smiling down at his pizza even though he was a little embarrassed. "Not every bad guy speaks English, unfortunately, and knowing where drug runners are taking their stashes can be really helpful. And that's just the tip of the iceberg."

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

"Hey, I don't doubt it's important," Nico told him. "I just doubt my ability to do it. I'm not all that scholastically minded. I'm only good at learning stuff when I'm really into it."

[dontvotemeout]

"What if someone drew you pictures of the bad guys and explained it without you having to read it?" Jason asked curiously. "Would that help?"

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

"I'm not stupid," Nico told him, making a face at the thought of pictures like he was a little kid. "I just hate reading. So...sure. I usually learn stuff from talking to people or ghosts, anyway."

[dontvotemeout]

"I didn't mean to make it sound like you were stupid," Jason said apologetically. "I don't want you to think you can't do what I do, because I think you'd be awesome at fighting crime."

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

"I didn't mean to make you think--" Nico considered how to put this. "You make me feel like I'm good and capable of doing important stuff. It's not what I'm used to so I get a little weird about it. So, I'm sorry and you're kind of really flattering, thanks."

[dontvotemeout]

Jason scooted closer to Nico on the bed and gave him a little nudge. "You are good and capable of doing important stuff, and screw anyone who says differently," he said, leaning in to give Nico a kiss on the cheek. He didn't like the way Nico thought so little of himself, and he didn't like the feeling he got in his stomach when Nico thought little of himself, so being flattering was just as much about making himself feel better as it was about making Nico feel good.

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well Jason saying stuff like that took the crazy warm feeling in Nico's chest and made it spread all over in an embarrassing sort of way. "You're gonna make me turn all red like you in a second," Nico warned, nudging Jason back with a little chuckle.

[dontvotemeout]

"Yeah, but I like it when you turn red, so that's not exactly a warning," Jason pointed out, before taking a bite of pizza. He could give Nico a little break from feeling embarrassed while he ate.

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, but I don't like turning red." That was the important part, right? "I don't look as cute as you do. Even with pizza on your face." It was mean how he lied like that.

[dontvotemeout]

"Wait, what?" Jason asked, rubbing his cheek with the back of his hand self-consciously. "Where do I have pizza?"