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Percy sighed deeply and collapsed onto the comfortable couch in his and Annabeth’s apartment in New Rome. “I can’t believe the girls left us alone to have a Halloween sleepover! Why weren’t we invited?”
Jason offered a comforting pat on Percy’s shoulder before settling next to him on the couch, arm casually draped across the back. “It’s not that big of a deal. The girls hardly ever get time to themselves since we all volunteer at Camp Jupiter and Half-Blood during our free time. It makes sense they’d want to hang out tonight.”
“Yeah, but I just miss her, you know.” Unwitting tears sprang to Percy’s eyes at the mere thought of not being around Annabeth, and his lower lip jutted out in a pout reminiscent of a toddler.
Inching away from Percy with an awkward smile, Jason said, “Are you about to cry? Because I’m leaving if you do. I’m not good with crying people. You know that.”
Tears coated Percy’s palm when he wiped his eyes, but he laughed anyway. “I won’t cry,” he promised before a flash of the last horror movie he watched entered his mind. “Well, maybe I will cry,” he amended. “But only from being scared. Not from sadness.”
Suddenly, Jason was reminded of why Percy invited him over; to binge horror movies all night. It sounded like a fun evening until Jason remembered what happened the one time he tried watching a horror movie with Nico and Hazel, reacting so badly that he called down a lightning strike that hit the Hades cabin and almost incinerated it. Luckily, Nico’s reaction time was top-tier and he shadow-traveled them all out of the cabin before it collapsed.
That was four years ago and Jason still hasn’t lived it down. Fortunately, Hades was in a good mood when Nico asked him to repair the cabin and Jason wasn’t smited for his accidental disrespect.
“How about we watch something else?” Jason suggested. “Like Barbie? Barbie is a good choice.”
Percy side-eyed him. “You want to watch Barbie tonight?”
“They’re good movies!” Jason defended.
“I know that! I’m usually down for a Barbie marathon, but, dude, you really want to watch Barbie on Halloween night? What kind of demigod are you?”
The teasing question took the wind out of Jason’s sails and he sagged against the back of the couch like a puppet with its strings cut. “What scary movie do you want to watch?”
“The Terrifier.”
“What’s that about?”
“I’m not sure. Nico recommended it when I invited him.”
“Why isn’t Nico here? Did he already have plans with Will?”
“No. he said that he, and I quote, “would rather die and go to the Fields of Punishment for eternity than hang out with us alone.” If Hazel and Thalia had come and made tonight a Big Three sleepover, then Nico might have come.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
“Yep.” Percy snatched the remote off the coffee table and clicked on Netflix. “Let’s get this party started already! We’re not going to let Nico’s crappy attitude ruin it for us.”
Reluctantly, Jason agreed, spreading a light blue blanket across his and Percy’s lap and getting comfortable. They made the mistake of turning out all the lights except for the bathroom at the end of the hall, so the darkness, combined with the ominous opening music of the movie, made the atmosphere even more tense.
It didn’t take long for Jason to regret his choice to attend Percy’s “boys pity Halloween sleepover” because less than five minutes into the movie Jason was already clutching at his pajama bottoms, twisting his fingers into the fabric under the blanket, trying to hide his fear from Percy.
Unbeknownst to Jason, Percy was doing the same.
Neither could handle scary movies but were too stubborn to say anything lest the other thought them a coward. Not that Percy or Jason would think less of each other for admitting they didn’t like scary movies, but everything was a competition when it came to them.
What exactly the competition was this time, they didn’t know, but it didn’t stop them.
After the fifth jump scare in ten minutes, Percy was more than ready to call it quits, but his resolve solidified when he looked at Jason through his peripheral. There was no way Percy would lose this game. Jason would never let him live it down if Percy admitted defeat, and vice versa.
Shame built in Jason’s gut as a whimper almost slipped past his lips. It was ridiculous. He was a Roman demigod - a son of Zeus - he was braver than this.
Clasping his hands together under his and Percy’s shared blanket, Jason focused intently on the movie, doing his best not to react to any more jump scares outwardly. It worked until near the end of the movie when Jason was so locked into the movie that he almost jumped out of his skin as Percy abruptly shifted closer to him right as the ominous music swelled.
Percy’s weight against his side helped settle Jason’s nerves, so he said and did nothing. A few minutes later, he was grateful when Percy did the same when Jason flinched so hard his neck cracked. Disguising the move as stretching his back, Jason subtly scooted closer to Percy until their bodies were pressed against each other from shoulder to knee.
Percy either didn’t notice or didn’t mind.
Fuck Nico for suggesting this movie. By the time the end credits rolled, Jason was shaking like a leaf. Looking to the side, he discovered Percy was too. Percy even had the blanket tugged up to his eyes and was barely peeking at the TV.
“That wasn’t so bad,” Jason lied. “It wasn’t scary at all.”
“Yeah,” Percy agreed, dropping the blanket to his lap, revealing his and Jason’s tangled fingers on the couch cushion.
A deep blush covered Jason’s cheeks as he withdrew his hand, not knowing when they started holding hands. Before Jason could move too far away, Percy grabbed Jason and yanked him onto his lap, grabbing Jason’s hoodie and holding on for dear life.
“Don’t go!” he whispered against Jason’s shoulder.
“Why?”
Percy hesitated before saying, “The movie may have scared me more than I let on.”
Jason’s shoulders sagged in relief. “Me too,” he admitted. “Please tell me there aren’t any more horror movies on the marathon lineup tonight.”
“Not anymore,” Percy said with a shake of his head. “Let’s turn on all the lights, eat ice cream, and watch Barbie until morning.”
After Jason escaped Percy’s clutches, he held his hand out to Percy to help him off the couch, but before Percy could stand as well, the front door slammed open and someone flicked on the hallway light. A silhouette of a man Jason would recognize anywhere filled the doorway into the living room.
Reacting without a thought, Jason yanked Percy off the couch and shoved him toward the black-and-white clown. “Don’t kill us! But if you have, kill him first!”
“What?” Percy screamed, betrayed, staring at the intruder and Jason. “Why me?”
“I don’t know! Maybe because you have the best chance of fighting him off!”
“What the fuck do you expect me to do? Floor the entire apartment to drown him?”
“It’s a better idea than me striking the place with lightning!”
The figure in the doorway looked between the two for a moment before shaking his head and walking toward them. Percy’s scream was the loudest sound Jason had ever heard, but his own scream was a close second.
He scrambled onto the couch and wielded the coffee table lamp as a weapon while Percy grabbed the popcorn bucket off the table. “Get away from us!” Percy yelled, tossing popcorn pieces at the intruder.
The food assault did nothing to deter the man, who stopped just short of stepping on Percy - who was crouched in a ball on the floor with a popcorn bucket as his only defense - and then tugged off his clown mask.
Jason’s heart almost stopped beating in relief, which is so not what it is supposed to do. “Nico?” he asked, breathless.
Shaking out his tangled hair that just brushed his shoulders, Nico turned on the living room lights using the chain attached to the ceiling fan. “What the fuck is going on here?”
The popcorn scattered across the floor as Percy dropped it and collapsed on his back. “You tell us,” he demanded. “You scared the shit out of us!”
“I just walked in the house. What did I do?”
“That,” Jason exclaimed, gesturing to Nico’s costume; a perfect replica of the villain that will be haunting his and Percy’s dreams for years to come. “That is what you did! Why are you wearing that?”
“Will and your dumbass boyfriend wanted to take stupid Halloween pictures, and they somehow convinced me to join them.”
“Why didn’t you take the damn costume off before you left Leo’s house? Why are you even here? You don’t live with Annabeth and me anymore.”
A year and a half after Nico and Will left Camp Half-Blood at eighteen for New Rome, Nico moved in with Percy and Annabeth for a year and a half while Will and Austin rented a small apartment near the New Rome hospital where they interned so they wouldn’t need to worry about disturbing other roommates with their hectic schedules.
Will and Nico eventually moved into their own apartment six months ago after Nico saved enough money from his mortal job as a tattoo artist in Las Angeles and Austin’s new girlfriend and her sister moved in with Austin.
“You invited me, remember?” Nico said dryly, shuffling out of his black boots and dumping his bag of candy on the coffee table.
“You said you didn’t want to come.”
“That was before Leo blew himself up and my fiance was occupied with putting the pieces back together.”
“Leo blew himself up? Is he okay?”
“Chill, Jason. He’ll be fine. Will is with him. Let’s just get this stupid scary movie marathon or whatever the fuck it is over with.” Pushing past Jason, Nico sat on the middle cushion of the couch.
Sharing a mischievous look, Jason and Percy joined Nico on the couch, boxing him in. “What a grand idea, Neeks. You’re just in time for the grand finale of the night’s festivities.”
“Oh, Zeus almighty,” Nico groaned, knowing the next words out of Percy’s mouth couldn’t be good. “What is that?”
Jason snatched the remote off the arm of the couch and turned on Netflix. “A Barbie movie marathon.”
“And I’m out,” Nico said before dissolving into his cousins’ shadows.
Sharing another amused look with Percy, Jason stole Nico’s forgotten bag of candy before he and Percy settled in to continue their movie marathon - with the lights on this time.