Archive of Our Own ^beta

If I lean forward, it is going to make it awkward. Nico thought to himself as he continued to draw the sketch. His face was still red from the entire embarrassment of the situation, but he was going to be professional god dammit. He wanted to be an artist and sometimes artists have to do things outside of their comfort zones. And if that included drawing a life sketch of a literal Adonis that his teacher paid to be a nude model, well then he was going to have to deal.

His eyes shifted back to the god-like person in front of him and he silently wondered where Professor Techne even found this guy. Normal people don’t look like this. And she had said that they were all university kids, which in Nico's mind made it even awkwarder. If he saw him on the street after this, what was he supposed to do? Shaking his head, he cleared his mind and focused on the details. The faster he finished this, the faster this awkward situation would be over.

“Am I allowed to talk to you while you’re drawing?” The model spoke up, making Nico jump slightly. Luckily, his pencil wasn’t near the paper at that time. Making eye contact with his model, he shrugged.

“I don’t mind but you have to not move from your position. And I am told that I am a bad conversationalist.” Nico replied, sharpening the edge of the model’s jawline. Seriously, did this guy make a deal with a demon for the perfect body? It shouldn’t be possible to have such great facial features. The only flaw Nico had been able to find, and he had been trying, was the small cut on the guy’s upper lip. And that just added to his appeal.

“Maybe you just have been having conversations with the wrong kind of people.” The model joked. When Nico didn’t respond, he continued. “I’m Jason by the way. I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself when I walked in.” 

Nico’s eyes flickered down his body to make sure the proportions were right before answering. “I’m Nico, but Professor Techne probably told you that.” 

Jason started to shake his head but stopped and returned to his original position. “It was more like she came up to me, asked me if I wanted to model nude for money, and gave me a time and place.”

Nico let out a quiet laugh at that. “That does sound like her. I’m surprised you showed up with how sketchy that was of a deal.”

Jason shrugged, making Nico grunt in irritation. Almost done. “I needed the money. Being a college student is expensive.” Nico hummed in agreement and set down his pencil. Done.

“Well, we are finished. You can get dressed now.” He stated, quickly averting his eyes as he put all of his stuff away. He wished that he had left his hair down so that he would have been able to hide behind it, but he always put it up in a ponytail and pinned back his bangs when he was drawing. By the time he had put all of his supplies away, Jason had gotten dressed again and now wearing glasses. Jason blinked in surprised and a small blush crept up his neck. “You wear glasses?”

“U-um, yeah. I’m practically blind without them. Can barely see two inches in front of my face.” Jason replied, his voice sound choked. Nico gave him a weird look, but grabbed his stuff without commenting. 

“Thanks for modeling for me,” Nico said, holding out his hand. Jason gripped it and gave him a smile. Lord Jesus, was that a dimple? 

“Anytime.” There was a beat of silence before Jason flushed a bit as he realized what kind of modeling he had just been doing. “I-I mean-”

Nico chuckled at his words and released his hand. “I know what you mean. Bye.” Walking out the door, he started to make a mental list of all the things he needed to do, starting with taking a cold shower.

“Wa-wait!” Nico stopped as Jason caught up with him and handed him a piece of paper. “Um, we should hang out sometime. You know, if you want.”

Nico looked down at the piece of paper where he found a neatly written set of 10 digits. Giving Jason a smile, he shoved the paper in his pocket. “I would like that.”

Jason smiled back. “Me too.”

“Well, I should go.” 

“Oh yeah.”

They both stood there for a second longer, just staring at each other before Nico cleared his throat. “I’ll, um, text you. Or call. Whatever you prefer.”

“Either is fine.” Jason automatically replied. Another moment of silence followed.

“B-bye.” Nico stuttered, turning on his heel and walking away at a completely normal pace. All people walked that pace, he was not fast walking with his head down at all in order to hide his blush and smile. You must be imagining that.