Chapter Text
The tower was just as high and broad as Jason had heard. It was true, there was no door, no stairs, just a wide window at the very top right under its roof; but the beautiful girl the evil witch had imprisoned there was nowhere to be seen. In fact, Jason had been told the girl would be alone in the tower, were the evil witch not to visit her. Never had Jason heard from a lanky boy with dark hair and a mischievous grin; still there he was, sitting on the windowsill, peeling an apple. He watched as Jason dismounted his horse hesitantly.
“Hey,” Jason called up.
“Hey.” The boy shoved a slice in his mouth, still grinning. He sat in that tower as if he hadn’t heard the stories everyone at the palace had.
“I’m looking for a beautiful girl with long hair that lives in this tower?”
The boy kept watching him a few seconds, the grin fading from his face. Eventually he gulped down another piece of his apple and nodded. “Yeah, no. You’re too late.”
“I... What!” Jason exclaimed. This could not be! The travellers had just brought these news to his father’s court and Jason had gladly taken the chance to leave the cold king and his overbearing wife. Meeting a nice girl in the process would have been pretty cool too, but he hadn’t actually intended to take her as his bride. He’d rather planned on saving her to built a reputation and go on adventures and quests, and rescue fair maidens and damsels in distress – and now the first step of his plan had already been thwarted. He didn’t want to go back to the palace…
“You’re too late,” the boy up in the tower repeated. “Percy’s taken Annabeth two weeks ago. Not that they haven’t been snogging for months already.” He waved the knife he’d used to cut his apple about and rolled his eyes dramatically.
Jason deflated. So there was no maiden in the tower anymore. There was no damsel in need for a prince to save her. He’d travelled three days to come here, he was short on food and his horse could need a good long break. And he desperately needed to calm down and clear his thoughts. What should he do? He couldn’t come home like this. The men would laugh at him, the women gossip behind his back and his father… his father would be Disappointed. With a capital ‘D’.
“Don’t cry.”
Jason looked up to meet a pair of dark eyes, the boy leaning down dangerously far. “I’m not crying,” he spat back.
“Looks like you’re gonna cry to me.”
“Yeah? Come down and get a closer look than!” Jason raised a fist, swinging it threateningly. That normally worked – he either got into a good fight, or the other left him alone, that is. This time however he got a smile and a name.
“Nico.”
“What?”
“My name, Prince Charming.” The boy – Nico – put the knife in his belt, turned on the sill and actually started the descend down. Without ropes or a ladder, not even a braid of hair; just practised motions.
Nico jumped the last few meters and landed gracefully on the grass. Jason’s horse whinnied and trotted off a bit.
“You can leave the tower?” The prince asked flabbergasted. The girl from the stories wasn’t able to leave, and the evil witch could only come and go by means of using the girl's hair as a rope. Nico gave him an incredulous look.
“Yeah? Why wouldn’t I? - Anyway,” Nico said but didn’t continue speaking, instead, he placed himself right in front of Jason, his hands on his hips, craning his neck a little to look Jason in the eye.
The prince sputtered and recoiled, his face flushing. “What are you-”
“You told me to take a look.” Nico told him matter-of-factly, but his face betrayed another feeling, interest, curiosity, maybe even a little bit of concern.
Jason sighed. He was wasting his time, the girl was gone and this boy, no matter how cute he was, wouldn’t change that fact. But Nico was cute. Kind of.
He eyed his new acquaintance; Nico was thin, but muscled, like a deer, his limbs long and strong, and his eyes… they didn’t look human. They were dark, almost black, but Jason liked them. They were fascinating. “I take it you don’t have something to drink with you?” he asked eventually and Nico gave him the same mischievous grin he’d worn when Jason arrived.
Winking at Jason, he turned back to the tower, the wind sweeping through his shaggy hair, pulling Jason’s attention to two little feathers and pearls braided in his dark strands. Like his eyes, they too seemed to remind Jason of another story he’d heard at court. But they suited Nico.
The boy put his hand on the wall, gently stroking and mumbling something under his breath. And just like that, the stones seemed to weep. The tower was bleeding a clear liquid.
Jason’s eyes bulged and he took a step back. This was magic. This had to be magic and magic was dangerous, forbidden. And finally, with a racing heart in his throat, Jason remembered. “You’re her son! You’re the witch’s son!” Everybody had heard that tale, the tale of a being, roaming the woods, the animals shunning the creature; a creature the evil witch had created, a boy, a bringer of death.
Jason drew his sword, pointing its blade to Nico’s neck, but when the boy turned, he put the sword down. Nico did look dangerous, he did look inhuman, but the emotion on his face was human. So clearly human it hurt.
“Here’s your water, Jason. Do you want it or not?” He said, his voice distant, no longer teasing. The boy shook his head watching the horse that was still fighting its animal instinct, the urge to flee. “You don’t trust me.” Dark eyes found Jason’s again. “But you don’t have any reason not to trust me either.”
He was right. Jason blinked. Was he bewitched? Did Nico do something to him? No. It just felt as if someone had opened his eyes, had given him the sight he was already trying his hardest to see. Jason was no longer blind.
All his life, Jason had listened to stories, had known of right and wrong. There were women, who needed rescue and man who came and saved them. They were expected to marry, marry a stranger they’d just met. And there were sorcerers and witches and all of them were evil, clearly evil, just because they had magic. Jason hadn’t know this Annabeth who had been imprisoned in the tower, but he had intended to save her, to help her, not even questioning why that had happened to her. And here was Nico, a boy he didn’t know either and who had tried to help him, to be nice – and Jason nearly attacked him because of the stories he’d heard. Because all magic was evil.
Jason stepped forward, sheathing his sword. He stopped at the wall, cupping his hand to the stones and catching the liquid in his palm. He drank without hesitation.
An incredulous laugh made him wipe his mouth and turn back to the witch’s son. Jason saw the look on his face with satisfaction. Nico looked glad, happy, so incredibly happy. He lunged forward and grabbed Jason’s collar, their faces only inches apart. Nico’s breath tingled his lips, a warm flush spreading over Jason’s cheeks. “You drank that?” Nico laughed again, shaking the prince a little. “You actually drank that!” He exclaimed, smiling but then he let go and stepped back.
Jason felt the cold invade his body where Nico had been touching him at once, and he already missed his breath on his lips. He’d actually forgotten to pay attention to the taste of the liquid, but he wasn’t thirsty anymore. Probably magic, he concluded. A good kind of magic.
“Thanks, I guess,” he laughed too, watching the son of the witch jump a little. All of a sudden, Nico eyed him warily.
“Why did you do it?” He demanded, and Jason felt a sharp pain in his chest. He’d just tried to show Nico his trust, just tried to be nice, for gods sake. Damn, this kid was suspicious!
But cute. Still cute.
Sighing, he put a hand on his forehead and closed his eyes. Nico had probably heard the same stories he had; knew his own role, the role of the bad guy, the evil child of the witch. But Jason had chosen to stop being colour-blind, to stop seeing everything as black-and-white like in a fairy tale.
“Because, like you just said, I have no reason not to trust you.” He explained, and the look on Nico’s face was even more incredulous than it had been before. Still, he stepped forward, getting closer again.
“You’re a strange man, Jason Grace,” he muttered, his eyes never leaving Jason’s.
The prince grinned. “Give me a chance, and I might be able to show you just how strange.” It was an odd idea, funny even, but Jason liked it. He had never thought about it earlier, but he had come here to get away from all those exceptions at court, how a prince had to be and act – and now, here with Nico, he had realized even more, learned that he too was full of exceptions, of prejudices, and maybe, just maybe it was worth it. Maybe he was right and Nico could prove it, could prove to him that not all magic was bad. And in return, he could show Nico the same.
“I’m the witch’s son.”
“Yes.”
“And you - Prince Charming, one of the good guys - you want me to give you a chance?”
“Yes.”
Nico shook his head. “What’s on your mind, Jason?”
“Right now?” Nico nodded, one hand propped on his hip, observing Jason like something fascinating. “How you know my name,” Jason answered and Nico’s mouth fell open.
He looked ridiculous standing there like that. The evil being, the son of the evil witch, dark-eyed and dangerous, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. Jason sat down in the grass with a smug look on his face. “So, how do you know my name? Is it magic? Or did you just listen to some travellers or something? What are you doing here anyway – and what’s your favourite food? I like chocolate-cake.”
Nico blinked and closed his mouth, his teeth audibly clicking, but he settled down next to Jason anyway. “It’s not really magic. A ghost told me.”
“That’s cool.”
Nico gave him a skeptical look. “You’re not gonna question the ghost-part?”
“Nope.” Jason smiled. He was pretty sure Nico wasn’t lying, but at the same time, Nico didn’t sound like ghosts were anything he needed to be afraid of. So why should Jason? “You’re staying at this tower, or what?”
Leaning his shoulder against the now-dry stones, Nico gave him an amused grin. “Yup. It’s better than Persephone’s place. And no one comes here – because everyone has heard the story of Prince Perseus saving poor Annabeth already.”
“Yeah, well, I haven’t” Jason blushed a little and pulled on his ear.
“And I’m glad for that.” Nico looked serious. Not teasing, not unbelieving, just serious. There was something, just a little spark in Jason’s heart that made him lean on the tower too, right next to Nico, their shoulders touching.
“Wanna talk about this Annabeth?”
He shook his head, dark eyes scanning the horizon, the orange glow on his face heralding dusk. “Not really. What about you? What are you gonna do now that there is no one in this tower a prince could woo?”
“There isn’t?”
Nico turned his head back sharply, their eyes locking, neither speaking for a moment and Jason cursed himself internally. Why had he said that? Sure, it had felt right, shit, somehow still felt right, but Nico didn’t fully trust him yet - they had just met!
The witch’s son blushed bright red, fumbling with the braids in his hair nervously, but his shoulder was still touching Jason’s. “I think you should go. It’s getting dark soon.”
“Can I come again?”
Nico looked at him, his brows furrowed, his mouth open just a little and his face still noticeably flushed. Jason had to resist the urge to kiss him right then and there. There was no answer, no question, just a small nod, and Jason leaned down, his hand on Nico’s neck, pulling him closer. Just a small, chaste peck, before he touched his forehead to Nico’s, breathing a promise against his lips. “I’ll be back for you.”