Author: firetestsgold

Rating: K+/T

Summary: Nico liked sharing a flat with Percy - but he couldn't help feeling incredibly irritated by his apparent dislike towards his boyfriend.

Nico liked sharing a flat with Percy, don't get him wrong. Out of everyone that he could have ended up with, Percy wasn't the worst case scenario by a long way. However, he couldn't help but feel incredibly irritated by the brunette's apparent dislike towards his boyfriend, Will. Frankly, it was getting ridiculous.

:::::

It started when they were first assigned to each other as flatmates. Nico had been incredibly apprehensive (he wasn't a particularly social person), and his nerves weren't calmed when he entered what appeared to be a Disney shrine. 'P. Jackson' was sat in the centre of the organised chaos, throwing a tennis ball repeatedly at the ceiling and catching it, over and over again. He sat up straight when he noticed Nico standing there, and stood up, grinning widely.

"Hey, I'm Percy. Are you 'N. DiAngelo'?" He asked, beaming.

"Nico," he replied, not returning the smile. "Are you my new roommate?"

Percy didn't stop smiling. "I think, technically, we are flatmates - lucky right?"

"Lucky?"

"Yeah - most students have to share a room, not just a bathroom and living room."

Confused, Nico asked, "I thought all students got a flat space after three years of study."

Percy laughed. "That's just what they want you to think. My buddy Jason is sharing a room with a football player called Frank who's about six foot tall and is the clumsiest person you will ever meet. He's pretty cool, but not to share a room with. Breaks everything."

"Good to know," Nico replied.

"So, flatmate, anything we need to discuss? Rules, requests... I'm pretty chill so let me know."

Nico scanned the room, swiftly, blank-faced, and turned to Percy. "The Disney has got to go."

Only then did his smile drop."What?! Dude, you can do whatever the hell you want, but the Disney stays."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Seriously? No way. Either you take it down, or I burn it off the walls. This is a shared space - save it for your bedroom."

"This is just the stuff that wouldn't fit," Percy said seriously, jumping forwards protectively when Nico lunged for his poster of Elsa and Anna. "Fine, fine. Anything else?"

"We need some rules."

"Okay, hit me."

"I'm cooking. No exceptions. I can actually cook, and I doubt you can, so... Yeah."

Percy sighed, visibly relieved. "Thank god. Last year I lived entirely on burritos and pot noodle - I don't think I could have stomached that for another year."

"Anything you want on the list?" Nico inquired, dreading it when a look of realisation came over Percy's face.

"Yeah, actually there is one thing..."

"Shoot."

"My first roommate was a bit of a player - liked to bring people home a lot, which I could handle mostly. Sometimes though, they were just awful, or weird, and it made me really uncomfortable. One time - I kid you not - Jake brought home this kid called Dakota who drank so much Kool-Aid that he looked like a vampire. He snuck into the bathroom while I was in the shower and used my toothbrush because our room had 'bad vibes that made his teeth feel funny'." He shuddered. "Can we have a word, where if you want the guy or girl out of the apartment they get kicked out no matter what?" Percy looked a little pale as he remembered Dakota, so Nico agreed.

"What should the word be?"

"How about... Vanilla?"

"Vanilla it is."

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Things were good, for a while. Percy and Nico became really good friends, and Percy even set him up with one of his friends from swimming, Will Solace. Will and Nico grew closer, until Nico has having him over almost every night for dinner as Will appeared incapable of feeding himself, like Percy. However, as Will was coming over more and more, Percy began to use 'vanilla' to get Will out of the house. It confused Nico immensely, as Will was Percy's close friend. The first time it happened...

:::::

Will stood up from the table. "Don't worry Nico, I'll clean up. I can stay for a bit because I already finished the essay that's due tomorrow."

Nico grinned before standing up. "It's fine Will, Percy and I will tidy up. You can stay though - that alright with you Percy?"

"I don't care."

Walking into the little kitchenette, Nico started to pack up the remainder spaghetti into a box. With a start, Percy grabbed his arm. Checking that Will was in the living room, he hissed "what are you doing?"

Nico groaned. "What now?"

"What are you doing with that pasta?"

Confused, he replied, "Packing it up for Will for tomorrow...?"

Percy's eyes narrowed. "Vanilla."

"What?"

"Vanilla."

"Percy..."

"Va. Nill. A"

Huffing, Nico made his way into the living area. "I'm really sorry Will, but I just remembered that I have a paper due tomorrow that I haven't even started. It must have slipped my mind, sorry." He laughed awkwardly.

Will looked confused, but said "That's fine, sunshine, seriously. I'll text you later?" and put on his coat.

:::::

When this had happened another four times, Nico realised what was going on. Every time that Nico tried to send his boyfriend home with food, Percy decided he had had enough and kicked him out the house. God, he was so predictable...

Deciding to confront him, he entered his bedroom after Percy had once again 'vanilla'ed Will out of the apartment.

"Percy."

Percy looked up from the book he was reading, face a picture of innocence, as he asked "What? Can't you see I'm reading"

He rolled his eyes. "Percy, that book is upside down."

Percy's smile fell as he checked the front cover of his biology text book. "Damnit."

"Quite. Why do you keep kicking Will out?"

Deadpan, Percy retorted. "I'm secretly in love with you and am jealous of Will. My heart bleeds for myself, I cry myself to sleep, oh Nico be m-"

Nico cut him off. "Percy, you set me up with Will. And you have a girlfriend. Plus, I'm pretty sure I know why."

Percy sat up. "You do?"

"Yeah. You are determined to keep my food to yourself."

"Dude, how come you're smart?" Percy whined. "Come on, just stop giving him MY leftovers-"

"They're not YOUR leftovers!"

"- and I won't use the code word again, I swear."

Nico sighed. "You promise?"

Percy nodded solemnly."Pinky swear."

A pause.

"Jackson, I'm not a three year old girl, I'm not pinky swearing with you."

(And as Nico fled the apartment, he thought to himself that he was pretty glad that the university had paired him with Percy Jackson. Then he kept running. After all, he did still have his dignity.)

AN: Apologies if there are any spelling mistakes - I don't have a beta yet (so if anyone's interested...). As always, review, follow, favourite, and if anyone has any requests PM me and I'll see what I can do. This was based off the prompt 'We both have a codeword for when we want someone out of the house, and you use it every time my significant other is over. Stop that, you're just mad they ate your leftovers' (only loosely though, I went massively off course here).