Based on a post by af-art, you should totally check out her tumblr! ~Koi
The new kid was getting on his nerves.
First of all, he was just a ball of energy. Nico was used to hyperactivity – it was called ADHD for a reason – but this, this was going overboard. It was like someone had thrown together coffee, a Five-Hour Energy, and a liquefied Leo and tossed them into the twats to-go cup.
"Oh, what's that! A lava wa - Oh, oh! There's grass on that ro – is that a real sword! Can I touch it! Why's that girls skin green? Can I pull on that guy's horns? Do you think Chiron will let me ride him?!"
At one point, Nico had seriously thought the kid was going to whirl around, point, and shout 'squirrel!' before dashing off into the sunset. Nico would've enjoyed that.
Instead, Percy just picked him up by the collar and held the boy away from his body while he thrashed his energy out.
Secondly, the kid was just flat out annoying. He kept asking about peoples' powers, then went on the throw them in together with cliché similes that they totally hadn't heard before ("It's so cool! You're like Aquaman! And he's like… uh, Fireman!" "Real creative, niño, real creative.").
So, when the kid turned to Nico, he was ready to punch his lights out. Or maybe summon a zombie and have it do that for him. The first would feel so much better, but the second would definitely leave lasting trauma.
The caffeine shot bounded over, having caught onto the black covered body amidst a sea of orange, and did a not to effortless hockey-stop in front of the son of Hades.
"What do yo -"
"I see dead people," Nico deadpanned his interruption.
The kid just kind of looked at him, eyes staring but not seeing.
He opened his mouth, and Nico was ready for some kind of sarcastic, Persassy thing to spill out past his teeth like one of those weird rainbow drool things (Seriously, sometimes he just wished he could just jump back to his century, people weren't as weird).
However, something aside from some sardonic snitch came out. "How often?" the kid asked.
Nico raised an eyebrow. Someone was actually interested?
"Every day," he said, blowing an oily puff of black out of his eyes, "It's so annoying."
"Oh…," the kid muttered, looking down. His sandal toed sneakers dug into the ground, simultaneously tracing circles and scooping up gravel in through the ratty hole. "Well, it is, I guess. I mean, I find it kind of fun."
Nico's brows furrowed together, "What?" he asked.
"I mean, I understand," the kid continued, "I, uh, I see ghosts, too."
Silence.
"…Oh…" Nico's eyes rolled up into his head.