~{A-R-T-E-M-I-S}~
His first tiny crush, the smallest fluttering of hearts was when he met the silver huntress. Her regal aura, the strength she portrayed as she calmly talked back to Dr. Thorn…
She was special. Even her name. Artemis. Beautiful, just like her. She was even around the same age as him, just a bit older in physical appearance.
He thought he'd have a chance if he wanted that sprout to become bigger, into a sturdy tree.
/But then, that little sprout never became anything, because she had sworn off the company of males a long, long, really long time ago, and she took his sister away from him and Bianca died, so that little crush was crushed/
*(H~E~S~T~I~A)*
That little leaf and the delicate stalk of maybe and what if wilting, he found himself at camp, with another goddess.
And a new seed sprouted. She looked younger than him, plain, simple, tending her beloved flames as if they were a new-born baby, and something in the gentleness broke through.
Nothing like her cold niece that he had once fancied, no, in fact, she was home personified.
But with his luck, she's also sworn to be a virgin. She promises that she'll remember him, and he does the same, always including her in his prayers.
/The shoot is dead again, though/
[A][N][N][A][B][E][T][H]
Like a fickle child of Aphrodite, he falls again to the traps of love, or maybe lust, depending on just what he feels.
Annabeth Chase, blond and genius. Like everyone else, she's older than him, though she is no immortal goddess. Perhaps it was the fact that she sympathized with him, or maybe the fact that Percy was in love with her.
She's in love back with the son of Poseidon, and also, maybe, just maybe, with the host of Kronos.
He gives up, saving himself a lot of heartache and the eventual, definite heartbreak. He can't compete with competition like that.
/He thinks of her as an older sister, now/
\-T~H~A~L~I~A-/
Not exactly Artemis, but a Hunter of hers, and her half-sister. Thalia is fiercely beautiful, a warrior that shamed men who claimed the same title.
He falls into fantasies, where she returns his feelings, and braves the wrath of all to quit her vow and be with him.
Those dreams, pleasant, colourful, and sharp like crystal, shatter into a million pieces at her careless words, branding him as Bianca's little brother.
/Like every other time, he gives up/
~R|A|C|H|E|L~
Then there was Rachel. Brave, fiery Rachel, passionate, warm, and sunny. She may have been mortal, and, as usual, older than him, but he wanted to like the girl who had thrown a plastic hairbrush into the eye of the Titan Lord, the girl who had flown into New York right in the middle of the Great War, and he wanted to be liked by her.
Here, he thought, daring to hope while ignoring his past filled with complications and all that drama. Here, maybe, I'll have luck.
And the sprout was a beautiful rose bush, flowering like crazy as if his stepmother was taking care of them herself.
/It burned to death when she accepted the role of the Oracle, the virgin Oracle, and he considered joining his father's realm for all eternity/
T-H-E- -B-I-T-T-E-R- -E-N-D- -F-O-R- -N-I-C-O
So when Percy asked Nico if he had his eyes on any girl in particular, he laughed carelessly, hiding his scarred heart, and shook his head, because really, technically, he didn't, not anymore, and he's tired of killing metaphorical plants before they're really done growing.