Hey Kids! this is really short and may or may not be a one shot. I hope you like it. It's kind of one sided Nico/Percy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Percy and Nico would suffer less.
The first night he heard the screams was the night they returned home. Nico didn't know what he had expected. He had seen Tartus. He knew. But Percy was invincible, nothing could hurt him. Percy was a hero, and to Nico he always would be.
Despite his nightmares, Percy was still the perfect hero. Know one knew. Know one even thought that Percy was anything but their strong leader. Even Annabeth who had been through hell with Percy never saw him.
It continued every night. Percy screaming, and Nico being the only one listening. He never comforted him. Percy shouldn't be screaming. He shouldn't have scars. He was always wearing armor, and he was never hurt. No, Nico never comforted him.
Percy spent a lot of time in the water after their return. If you walked past the lake, it was as still as glass. There was no movement as if everything was dead, but everyone knew Percy was there. That was okay. He had fallen into Tartus. He needed time to recover, and that's all they thought it was. He was tired. It was something that he could recover from something that could be fixed because their hero would never brake. He would never brake into so many pieces that he didn't exist anymore.
From birth Percy was a hero, that's what they thought. They all knew of his step-father. They knew Percy had cut off medusa's head and turned his step-father to stone. That was all they knew, and that was all they needed to know. They never knew how he would lie in his bed as a little kid and cry from the cut on his cheek. They didn't know about the times he would come into school covered in bruises and try to keep quiet as the other kids made fun of him for being so clumsy. They never knew, and they never wanted to know. So Percy never told them. He never told them anything.
The celebration was five days after the arrival of the seven. Both camps were there, and with lots of convincing from Jason, so was Nico.
The fire had lit up Percy's face. The shadows dancing across his mind, and Nico saw something on the son of Poseidon's face he had never seen before. Nico turned his head. He couldn't look. The Greeks and Romans had been united, but Percy had been broken.
Percy had laughed and talked with the seven and the rest of the camp. He had smiled in just the right places, but it never reached his eyes. He had laughed at jokes, and told the stories he knew they wanted to hear. Only Nico saw the pain and guilt flash across Percy's face when no one was looking. Only Nico heard the hollowness in his voice.
Percy and he weren't as different as he thought. While Nico hid in the dark and the shadows, Percy hid in the light. He hid in plain sight letting every one know him but never truly see him.
Percy was alone as Nico was. The difference was that Nico didn't want to get close to people, but people didn't want to get close Percy. Sure they all wanted to be friends with Percy Jackson the hero, but never Percy Jackson the broken boy.
It occurred to him that the person Nico was in love with was Percy Jackson, savior of Olympus. He was in love with the Percy that had saved him on that cliff all those years ago, the real live Greek hero, the strong and kind leader. He wasn't in love with the Percy who had been broken by Tartus or the one who loved his mother so much that he spent his summer working a job so he could by her a birthday present. He didn't love the Percy that was human, just an ordinary human. It was hard to love someone you didn't know. Nico thought that maybe he should learn to love Percy the ordinary human.
I hope you liked it. Tell me if it should stay a one shot or not, and please reveiw. Was it good, bad, horrible?