Forced to Love

Lyin' here with you so close to me
It's hard to fight these feelings when it feels so hard to breathe
Caught up in this moment
Caught up in your smile

I've never opened up to anyone
So hard to hold back when I'm holding you in my arms
We don't need to rush this
Let's just take it slow

Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight
Just a touch of the fire burning so bright
No I don't want to mess this thing up
I don't want to push too far
Just a shot in the dark that you just might
Be the one I've been waiting for my whole life
So baby I'm alright, with just a kiss goodnight

I know that if we give this a little time
It'll only bring us closer to the love we wanna find
It's never felt so real, no it's never felt so right

Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight
Just a touch of the fire burning so bright
No I don't want to mess this thing up
I don't want to push too far
Just a shot in the dark that you just might
Be the one I've been waiting for my whole life
So baby I'm alright, with just a kiss goodnight

No I don't want to say goodnight
I know it's time to leave, but you'll be in my dreams
Tonight
Tonight
Tonight

Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight
Just a touch of the fire burning so bright
No I don't want to mess this thing up
I don't want to push too far
Just a shot in the dark that you just might
Be the one I've been waiting for my whole life
So baby I'm alright, oh, let's do this right, with just a kiss goodnight
With a kiss goodnight
Kiss goodnight
-Just a Kiss Lady Antebellum
It had been almost two weeks since the first time Nico came to my cabin. He would now consistently come over and we would talk, and to my embarrassment, fall asleep together more often than not. Us staying up all night has been causing us to be drowsy in the mornings, I even fell asleep during capture the flag one time. This caused mean rumors to spread about us and what we're doing. Well, meaner than usual. The whole camp knew about our, “engagement”. Every morning he would kiss me gently on the cheek before taking off back to his cabin. When the Conch Horn blew for any meal, he would find me and walk me there. It was good that Nico could blend into the shadows so well when he came to talk, we probably would have been caught by the harpies by now if he couldn't. It had even gotten to where Percy would trust us to stay in my room overnight, but, of course, we had to leave the wooden sliding panel, which was my door, open. We had grown closer each day, talking, crying, and laughing. I trusted Nico entirely. We were about two weeks into our relationship when we had our first real kiss.
The day had gone by like any normal one: breakfast, training, lunch, more training, dinner, and capture the flag. I hadn’t seen Nico much that day let alone get to talk to him. That is, until that night…..
Percy and I had just led the Blue Team to victory, as usual, (What else would you expect from two children of the powerful sea god, Poseidon. We NEVER go down without a fight... and a few soaked demigods. Oops). The victory, of course, led to having to celebrate. I had finally managed to escape the hullabaloo of the party and headed back to my warm cabin. Nico appeared, silently beside me, walking me back like he always did.
The night was cool and the only noise came from the slowly dwindling party. We had soon reached my cabin. Before I could go inside, Nico gently put his hand on my shoulder and gently turned me to face him. We were nose to nose, and I was staring into his deep brown eyes.
He started to say “Eliza” but then His lips were suddenly pressed against mine. I dropped my helmet in the grass at my feet and wrapped my arms around his neck. Despite the fact we were both wearing full body armor, it couldn’t have been more romantic.
We broke away gasping for breath, his nose touching my nose, his eyes staring intensely into mine. He put his mouth down next to my ear, gently breathing on my neck. My vision swirled turning the stars into streaks of light. “Outside your cabin in ten minutes,” he whispered, sending chills down my spine. He kissed my cheek, longer than usual then took off back to his cabin. I smiled after his retreating form, feeling more giddy than I have been in my entire life. Then went inside to take a shower.
Ten minutes later, Nico was waiting for me outside my cabin. He was wearing a full suit tie and all. He looked really uncomfortable, nervously twisting his skull ring. “Oh. Was I supposed to dress up?” I asked. I walked over to him and adjusted his tie. “You look very handsome, my dark prince.” I said, looking into his eyes.
He laughed “ You’re beautiful just the way you are,” he replied, pulling me into him kissing me, but not as passionate as the one we shared not so long ago. My heart did a flip-flop and I prayed to Aphrodite silently that Percy wouldn't open the door. I found his statement highly amusing. I was really down-dressed, even from my normal. I was wearing a white tanktop under a studded cutoff black leather jacket that I had gotten from Thalia and short frayed jean shorts, with my hair just simply braided, still damp.
Percy opened the door, probably just out of the shower, since his hair was wet.. He and saw us getting ready to leave. “Where are you going?” he asked forcefully .
I looked expectantly at NIco. He was going to have to tell Percy where we were going or Percy wouldn’t let us go anywhere. He went over to Percy and whispered in his ear for a while. I watched the grin slowly spread across Percy’s face. He obviously liked the idea. I made a pouty face at Nico, but he kissed me and I couldn’t help but smile.
“You’ll see,” he whispered. He looked over at Percy who gave him a small nod. Nico, then, put his hands over my eyes and guided me outside.
The night air was cool against my skin and I shivered. Nico hugged me against his chest. His voice broke the silence. “Okay, we’re almost there. Just climb this ladder. I’m going to remove my hands from over your eyes but don’t open them. It’s a surprise.”
“ Okay,” I replied. “I’m not looking.” I felt my way up the ladder until I found a solid ground. I stepped up and moved away from the edge so Nico could climb up.
When I felt him behind me, I asked “Can I look now?”
“Yes, you can.”
I opened my eyes and let them adjust as I took in my surroundings. We were on top of the Hades cabin. A small round, white table sat off to one side . It was adorned with a tablecloth with a lacy trim. On the table sat a small white vase filled with blue Stargazer lilies, along with tiny, flickering candles that smelled of cinnamon. Hazel stood by the table wearing a simple white collared shirt with black jeans along with a big grin. She was holding menus.
I took it all in and turned to look at Nico “You did this all yourself?” I asked, shocked. “Where did you get the supplies?!”
He shrugged. “I can shadow travel, remember?”
“How could I forget? You almost died shadow traveling and I used my ring to shadow travel to help you get the Athena Parthenos here.” I replied glancing over at the Athena statue standing on Half Blood Hill
Nico pulled out my chair. “Should we eat?”
I hugged him before I sat down. “You’re the best fiance ever.”
He turned the color of a tomato, and when I sat down, he hurried over to his seat and sat down.
Hazel came over “What can I get you two lovebirds tonight?” she asked. Nico glared at her.
I glanced at the menu. “Ham and cheese would be splendid.” I told Hazel.
“I’ll take the same,” Nico said, still blushing.
As Hazel retrieved our sandwiches, our goblets filled with our personal drinks of choice: Coke for Nico and water for myself.
Hazel brought us our sandwiches. I turned to thank her, but she had already disappeared. “That girl is fast,” I thought to myself.
We ate in a peaceful silence. Nico seemed on edge, nervously twisting his skull ring. When we finished, the zombies that had been lounging in the corner, to my surprise, started playing music. It was a slow, relaxing song. Nico stood up, helped me up, and started to dance with me. My arms were around his neck and his arms were around my waist. Nico let go of me when the song was over, walked over to the zombies, bowed and the zombies sunk into the ground, turning into dust. I guessed they were probably going back into the Underworld,
He walked back over to me, took my hand, and walked me over to the edge of the roof facing the beach. We sat down on a blanket that he had laid out, apparently for that purpose.
I looked at Nico, who had taken off his jacket and tie,
“So, how have we gone completely unnoticed by the harpies and everyone else, for that matter?” I asked. Normally, if the harpies caught demigods out past curfew, they would shred them.
“Hazel helped, like, majorly,” Nico replied “Besides making the sandwiches, she put a Mist bubble around this roof and us”
“Okay. Major WOAH! Hazel is totally amazing. You’re way lucky to have her as a sister.” I told him.
“Yeah. She’s the best. She made all of this possible. I couldn’t have done this without her.” he replied.
“Then, I definitely need to thank her. This is the best date ever!”
“You really mean it?” he asked
“Of course I mean it! This date has been amazing!” He looked content at my reply, which made me smile. I think I might of been falling in love with him, but I was scared to say it, It may just be three simple words but dangerous ones. Love is powerful, it can bring people together or rip them apart. so yeah, i was terrified. especially if Nico didn't feel the same. I was afraid to say those three words. I didn’t want to tear apart our relationship like I had seen it do to so many others.
Apparently, I didn’t have to. Nico beat me to it. “Eliza, I.. I love you, I know this has been only our first date, but-”
I stopped him with a kiss, wrapping my arms around him. “I love you too” I said, starting to cry.
I found myself yawning. He pulled my head against his chest and started stroking my hair, kissing my head every once in a while. I relaxed. I could feel Nico’s heartbeat through his shirt. I found myself drifting off to sleep.

Notes

How will Percy react?