Nico DiAngelo had a black tally mark on his arm. It was his biggest shame. He had let someone in his life and he got hurt. But tally marks can't be scrubbed off, and so Nico was forced to live with his stupid, stupid blip.
Marks showed up when you were in love. Not familial or platonic love, but the romantic type. Red ones appeared if your affection was returned. Scarred tallies showed up if your love was dead. Stupid black ones popped up if your love was unrequited.
Nico knew who his mark was for: Percy Jackson, whom he had been in love with a while ago. Nico wished he could just return his tally. Yeah, thanks, but I was kinda stupid then, so here's your mark back. It didn't work that way. All Nico could really do was think about the day his gold tally appeared. Once you were in love with your soulmate, you got that thin aurelian line on your arm. Nico had only really seen it once, on Percy and Annabeth's arms. They were the lucky ones.
Nico flipped over onto his stomach. The clock on his bedside read some time after three in the morning. Yet another night spent staying up dreaming about his soulmate. Nico was starting to doubt he had one. He hadn't been in love with anyone since Percy. There had been fleeting moments of interest, like with that one rock climbing instructor from Hephaestus, or the pottery kid from Athena, or Will Solstace, the handsome and funny kid who always made Nico feel included...
Ok, maybe he wasn't quite over Will. But a few weeks ago, Nico had seen Will kissing some girl from the Ares cabins, so there wasn't really any chance of a relationship there. Honestly, Nico was a little relieved. It was a good thing that he hadn't fallen in love and just gotten another stupid, stupid, stupid black tally. Just one more thing to moan over.
Will Solace had a black tally mark on his arm. Actually, he had five. His arm was getting a little full. There were three blacks, then a scar, then another black, another scar, then this one. He even knew who it was for. Not that it mattered though. The person he loved probably didn't even know Will knew who they were, let alone that he loved them. It was more than a little painful. If only he could work up the courage to speak to Nico...
No, that was stupid. The black mark reminded him of that.
Will remembered exactly when he had fallen in love with Nico. They had been fixing a strawberry delivery van for Chiron, and when Will saw Nico with a streak of grease on his forehead looking concerned at the engine, he had fallen. Hard. They had hung out together a few times, and each time they hung out, Will couldn't help but wish that his newest mark would turn red. Then one night, a few of his siblings had smuggled in some booze to the campfire, and next thing he knew he had been making out with a random chick. Afterwards, he didn't see Nico around much.
Will wondered if the two incidents were connected, but for someone to be upset with you for kissing someone else, they had to be romantically interested in you. Which was not the case. So he dismissed the idea. Nico was not in love with Will.
Nico woke up to a faint tingling sensation on his forearm. He yawned and lazily brushed off whatever offending object caused his discomfort. Turning over, he realized that the prickle wasn't gone. He groggily lifted his arm, and then immediately wished he hadn't.
There was a tally mark.
A red, red tally mark.