Nico DiAngelo wasn't happy. He hated the world he's been in, he hated some people around him, and most definitely, he hated Percy Jackson.
Percy Jackson was the main reason why Nico was so upset. He was the reason why he had to run away. He was also the reason why he couldn't trust anyone, including himself.
The war was over. Both of the camps were celebrating and Nico? Well, he was just sitting from a distance and watching. Everyone looked extremely happy. They were laughing, some of them were cheering. They were celebrating the seven. He saw many familiar faces, but his dark eyes were only locked at one of them. Nico stared at him for a while, so he didn't see the person coming towards him.
"Mind if I sit?" a girl voice asked. He turned to her. It was Annabeth. He nodded, but he simply wished her to disappear. She sat.
"Why are you sitting here?" she asked. Nico turned his head to somewhere else, she was only making him worse. "I don't like to celebrate," he said quietly. She sat closer. "I mean, why are you sitting here alone, why don't you join us?" she asked. He turned to her. "Because I'm not a part of you," he said.
"Why do you think that?" she asked. "We all love you Nico, you're the one who's running away!" He rolled his eyes and stood up. "Oh come on!" he said. "I know that I'm a freak, I do know I don't belong here! I'm different. I don't belong to anywhere! You don't have to act like I'm not! I can see the fear in their eyes!" He sat again, with tears in his eyes. "I'm not one of you," he whispered. He felt Annabeth's hand on his shoulder.
"You can't say that you don't belong here unless you try to fit in," she said. "Go ahead and try it, you'll see that we're going to accept you!" Nico shook her hand off from his shoulder. "I don't like being touched. Don't touch me," he said. Annabeth stood up. "Just saying," she said. "If you don't dare to try, you won't know." Then she walked away.
Nico sat there for a while. She didn't know what was wrong with him. She had no idea of how cruel were the gods. She didn't know him at all. But she had gave him an advice, and that made Nico wonder. Why did she even tried to help?
Annabeth walked back to the party, and found Jason. "I talked to him just like you said. Now can you tell me what is going on?"
"Nico is just a good kid," he said. "He thinks that none of us like him, and he also thinks that he is, well, a freak. I told him that he could fit in anytime, but he didn't believe in me. I just wanted him to hear that from another point of view."
"But… Why me?" she asked. "It was a random choice," Jason said but his voice was slightly changed. "Okay…" she said and walked away. She soon forgot all of her thoughts and joined the party.
That night, when Annabeth exited the party, she heard some voices coming from cabin thirteen and couldn't help but eavesdrop. It was Jason and Nico.
"I just want to be normal," Nico said. "But it's impossible- not when I have this unnatural thing."
"We all are ourselves with everything we have Nico, this is not unnatural. You're normal. You don't have to pressure yourself," Jason replied. He sounded calm. What are the talking about? Annabeth thought.
"It's not normal Jason, look around you! None of you have that, and it is unnatural! I am a freak!"
"Don't talk about yourself like that Nico, it's not something you can control! You are just like this! It's okay to be like this!" Annabeth became more curious.
"But how can I fit in when there is him standing there? I hate him. I hate him for giving me all these feelings! It's not okay, it'll never be okay! It wasn't okay back then, and it is still not!" Him? Annabeth thought. Is Nico… Her thoughts were confirmed by the next things Jason said.
"He'll always be there. Your feelings are not awful, don't think like that! It's okay to be human sometimes Nico, it's okay to make mistake, fall in love, have actual feelings! You can't run away from it! You can't live your life when you're acting like a shadow."
Annabeth walked away. It all made perfect sense. She did not know who Nico loved, but when you put that piece, the puzzle was complete. She wasn't going to tell anyone of course, but she also wouldn't let Nico run away. She was going to make him believe that he could fit in.
And she also was going to make everyone else believe and trust in him.