Love's Overrated

Author's Note: Alright, guys. So here's my go at a Percy Jackson story. I love this series with all my heart and then some, so I figured it was high time I got to work on my own little piece of writing surrounding the lives of these characters. But enough of my little drabbling, I'm sure you came for the writing, not my silly notes. And don't worry, the slash will come!

Also, please note that this story does not take place at Camp Half-Blood. It's sort of an AU where all the same characters and stuff like that exist, but it's in a regular world, without gods. So this first chapter takes place in a regular ol' summer camp. I just thought I'd address this so it doesn't bring up any confusion!

Reviews are always appreciated. Seriously, they definitely keep me going. I will be continuing this story with or without them, because I'm not going to be one of those annoying people that will only update after a certain amount of reviews. However, they really do help and I'd really appreciate if you let me know what you think of the story so far, because it'd lead me in the right direction and let me know you want to see more. But enough rambling about reviews – I swear, I will never talk about them this much in these notes ever again. I just wanted to get that point across.

I hope you enjoy!

Warning: This is rated M for a reason. I don't plan on making this anything less than that, and it will progressively get more mature as the story continues.

Chapter 1: Every Fiber

Kibble 93

To love someone so wholly and completely, with every fiber of your being, was just about the best feeling anyone could possess. To have someone constantly be on your mind and be the only subject of your thoughts. To have your heart throb and dance at every sight of the person, or even just the slight mention of their name. To know that every single part of them is perfect and wonderful in every way, both inside and out, and that there's no way in Hell that anyone could ever match their beauty. To look at them and think I'm staring at a god right now. Yes, being in love was the best feeling in the world.

That is, if the feelings are returned.

But to love someone so wholly and completely without any feelings being given back? Well, it was just about the worst feeling that anyone could ever experience in their life. To know that there's no chance between you and the one person you know is meant for you. To know that no matter how much you pray, wish, and hope, that they will never so much as spare a glance at you in that way, if at all.

It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that this what pretty much Nico di Angelo's life. Or, at least, it had been for the past two months. How anyone could fall so madly in love in only two months time was beyond him, especially someone who didn't ever really believe in true love. And yet the boy, or rather young man, sleeping in his own bed just across the room had done it to him, and Nico absolutely hated him for it.

But as much as he wanted to hate Percy Jackson, he couldn't. He couldn't do it no matter how hard he tried. No matter how much he willed himself to see Percy with only blinding fury and burning rage, all he could ever see was absolute perfection. There was so much wrong about this, about this… obsession, almost, that had taken over Nico's life. He was only interested in what the older boy was interested in, only wanted to do things if he knew Percy would be there, too, and more often then not Nico would find himself staying awake at night just to gaze at the snoring teenager. Not only did he hate Percy for what he was doing to him, but he also hated himself for letting him fall into this trap so easily.

Nico cursed to himself in the dark as he hugged his knees closer to his chest. The older boy snored loudly and then turned to his side, and Nico watched with fascination. He giggled slightly, hearing Percy snore like that, and then cursed himself again. This was weird! W-e-i-r-d, weird. He couldn't watch people sleep like this, it just wasn't right! And yet he couldn't, just couldn't, pull his eyes away. He'd tried, but always found his gaze wandering back. He wanted to stop himself, but he couldn't. Nico was losing a lot of sleep because of this, not just the "watching Percy sleep" thing, but also the fact that they were in the same room made it almost impossible for the boy to fall out of consciousness easily.

He didn't even want to be here. He didn't even want to be at this stupid camp. Life would have been so much easier if he hadn't come. Why his grandmother had made him, he had no idea, but he really wished, over anything else, that she hadn't. It was something about "needing to make more friends" or something. He snickered at the thought; that had totally worked. All it did was cause him to fall in love way too hard for his own good, and with a boy he knew he'd never see again. "Thanks, Grandma." He whispered sarcastically to himself.

Finally flopping down onto his back and settling into the blankets of the bed he was seated on, he turned to his side and tried to put his mind to other thoughts; like how school was starting in less than two weeks and he still hadn't gotten his summer work done. Or how his only real friend probably had a much better summer than him and most likely went off and made a whole bunch of new friends at her fancy-schmancy art camp. It must be nice to at least go to a camp where you're surrounded by a bunch of people who are interested in the same types of things as you are. Nico suddenly wished that he had actually given his grandmother a definitive answer when she asked "what kind of camp would you like to go to this summer?"

Apparently, "I don't know, I don't really want to go to camp," means that he's going to one of those general summer camps. The ones where there's a lot of sports, stuff like archery and swimming in lakes, bonfires, and things of that nature. He didn't even know that there were summer camps that lasted both months of the summer vacation that he had. But alas, there were, and he had spent the majority of his time off of school here in this hellhole, where all he could think about was Percy fucking Jackson.

It's not like he hadn't made an effort to make friends, either. He did, mainly with the others who didn't seem to want to be here and were instead forced against their will. But none of them really hit it off. They didn't have anything in common really, and Nico soon came to realize that he was kind of the odd one out here. He wore a lot of black, despite the heat, and often look very depressed, which wasn't the case. He wasn't depressed (other than at the fact the he was so addicted to Percy, even though he barely knew him), he just like the color black. He guessed that, to the other campers, he probably looked like some weird goth or emo kid; or some kind of weird combination of the two. Maybe he inherited that from his father, who had always been a bit of a dark man.

He had made a special effort to make friends with Percy, too. He'd tried especially hard, because he figured the next best thing to lovers was friends. Although he'd ultimately be torturing himself, maybe becoming his friend would also help him get over himself. Why he thought he'd get that result, he had no idea. Some might say that he's over exaggerating, but as of right now Nico was afraid that Percy was one of those people that you never really got over. The kind of people who you constantly tell yourself you got over, but never really did.

For the most part, it was an okay friendship. They talked on occasion, seemed to get along fine, and Percy wasn't mean to him, even if he did seem like the jock type that always bullied him at school. He was athletic, definitely, probably played a few sports back wherever he lived. He'd seen Percy shirtless at the lake, and he had muscle; not overly muscular, but he was toned. It wouldn't have come as a surprise to him if Percy was just as much of a bully as the other jocks at his school.

He flipped face down and groaned loudly into his pillow before sitting back up and looking over at Percy, who was now stirring in his sleep. Nico's heart started to pump quickly, and after a moment Percy sat up drearily.

"Nico? What're you doing, man?"

"H'm? Oh, I just woke up, just need a drink of water or something." He lied.

"Oh, okay. Thought I heard grunting or something, everything okay?"

"Yeah, maybe you were just hearing things. Or it could've been a dream." Damn, usually he was a much heavier sleeper, or so Nico thought. He'd have to be careful the remaining couple of days in the cabin.

"Yeah, guess so." He got up out of his bed and waltzed off to the bathroom, Nico watching him from behind. His hair, although in a state of defied gravity at the moment, was a beautiful, soft brown, and his skin was a light bronze color, naturally dark compared to Nico's pale, creamy colored skin. He admired the tall boy, watching him disappear into the restroom. Not shortly after, the sound of urinating filled the cabin and Percy quickly emerged back out with the sound of a flush.

"S'free now, if you want water." Nico stayed silent.

"Nico? You alright dude? Seriously, you're starting to freak me out a little bit."

"What? Oh, yeah, thanks. Sorry, I just spaced out, no big deal."

"Alright. Well, I'm heading back to bed. But if something's on your mind or anything you can come talk to me, 'kay? We're all we've got right now with these cabins only holding two people, and I can't have some depressed kid walking around. You'd kill my mood." Percy laughed and lied back down. "See you in the morning." And with that, he was out once more, snoring louder than he was before the bathroom trip.

Nico had just nodded and stayed in his bed for another moment before finally getting up and making his way to the bathroom himself. He shut the door quietly and turned the sink on, cupping his hands and filling them with cold water. Splashing his face with the refreshing cold water, he leaned against the counter with his forearms and cursed to himself, again. After spending another minute or two in the bathroom, he shut the light and opened the door again, slipping out quietly and sliding under his covers.

If only Percy knew that he absolutely couldn't tell him what was wrong. Oh, how he wished he could, but he couldn't. Never in a million years could he tell Percy what was wrong. So instead he just sighed, turning onto his side for one final time and curling into the sheets that surrounded him. Hopefully this wasn't as bad as he though, because the best feeling in the world is being absolutely and utterly in love with someone. But the worst feeling? Being absolutely and utterly in love with someone.