So, I've had this in the works since November-ish, and only now got around to finishing it. I wanted to write little Nico's first kiss, and thought real hard about who it'd be with, and why. I set this between Battle of the Labyrinth and The Last Olympian, but it takes place prior to the short The Sword of Hades. I get bonus points for this for making it a rare pair!
I hope you guys enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians
First Kisses (And Realizations)
Nico di Angelo is 11 years old when he has his first kiss. Coincidentally, it is also when he realizes that he is not like other boys. Probably. Most likely.
Nico di Angelo is 11 years old when he has his first kiss. Coincidentally, it is also when he realizes that he is not like other boys. Probably. Most likely.
At eleven, Nico is just fresh out of his first battle- the Battle of the Labyrinth -and despite him not having spent the summer at camp, he is given the bead for the summer, which, that year, is commemorating said Battle of the Labyrinth. Percy Jackson has just turned fifteen two weeks earlier, and that was when Nico pitched to him the plan that is their best bet at beating Kronos and this whole prophecy business.
Nico spends most of his time these days trying to harness and hone his powers that come with being a child of Hades. He has the power to summon and banish both ghosts and skeletons, and if Nico concentrates he can also make shadows move. One power that Nico discovers and really likes is one where he can step into a shadow and disappear, reappearing somewhere else. It's a fun one, and it always feels like his face is going to peel off every time he does it. Unfortunately, it is a difficult one for Nico to use, and it tires him out a lot when he uses it. The first time Nico used that power he had passed out for a week.
Not only that, but it is hard for Nico to control where he is going. He has to concentrate really hard on where he wants to go, and even then Nico doesn't always go where he wants to. Most of the time Nico either winds up in China, or in the Underworld. Honestly, Nico prefers winding up in China than the Underworld. While if Nico passes out in the Underworld, he's likely to at least wake up in his room in his father's palace, it also runs the chance of him running into his stepmother, Persephone (who is always in the Underworld right now, because it's winter). Nico prefers waking up in China because if he wakes up in China, he's less likely to be turned into a geranium.
Today is one of those days where he wakes up in the Underworld. Nico doesn't think he has been asleep for very long, because instead of waking up in his room or with some skeletal servant hauling him through the halls, Nico finds himself waking up on the ground, surrounded by flowers and pomegranates and other plants.
Yuck. He has managed to shadow travel (because that's what Nico has decided to call the power of his) himself into Persephone's garden. Nico clambers quickly to his feet, brushing soot, or whatever it is that Persephone plants her plants with, off of his jeans, and ducks out of the garden as quickly as he can manage. Persephone, quite obviously, had not been in the garden when Nico had appeared, because if she had, Nico had no doubts that she would not have hesitated in turning him into a part of the garden. As it is, Nico had been lucky, and Nico is in no mood to be testing his luck. Tyche is glowing in his favor currently, and Nico's not about to squander that by inviting Persephone to stumble upon him in her garden.
Nico has been down in the Underworld several times before, but he hasn't really seen much beyond the palace grounds and the death lanes. He has played with Cerberus on occasion, but not many times. Most times, because it's winter, when Nico wakes up in the Underworld, he is quick to retreat topside to avoid his stepmother.
This time, however, he decides to explore. The Fields of Asphodel aren't far, just overlooking the Fields of Punishment, so Nico decides to wander about Asphodel for the time. Those sentenced to the Fields of Asphodel aren't harmful; most can't focus on anything for more than a minute or two. Except for a small handful, all who are sentenced to the Fields of Asphodel are rid of their memories, knowing nothing of the life behind them, and without a life in front of them.
But there is a small handful who does remember their previous lives. Or, at least, have enough awareness about them that they have the presence of mind to follow a very living newcomer through the fields.
"Who's there?" Nico calls out, stopping, and he looks around the immediate area, a hand on his sword in case something jumps out at him. Nothing does, and for a moment Nico thinks he just imagined the footsteps, but then, very softly, a voice echoes back,
"Who's there?"
Not to be cliché, but the voice sounds ghostly. And feminine, so it very obviously is not Nico. He does not remove his hand from his blade as he asks,
"Who said that?" Nico is looking closer, trying to see. Even in the Underworld, there are shades and ghosts who can hide in plain sight, and the only way you can find them is if you look very closely.
"Said that," Comes the voice again, and as Nico blinks, suddenly she pops up into existence.
It's a young girl, only a year or two older than Nico, who has a very plain face. Her clothes are grey, her hair brown, but with each movement she makes, Nico can see that her image ripples, taking on the color of whatever backdrop she is standing in front of.
Nico can hardly contain his exclamation of surprise as he shouts,
"Holy Ha-" But he manages to stop himself, because one of the first things that Nico learned is that in the Underworld, names have power. Saying someone's name can summon them from wherever about the Underworld they are, and Nico's not about to test his luck and see if he can cause anything by saying the name of a god.
"Holy," The girl echoes, a look of confusion set upon her face. Nico shakes his head, convincing himself that the girl is really there.
"Who are you?" He also wants to know why she is echoing everything he says, but Nico feels as if he knows that already. He's pretty sure there is a tale somewhere about someone who echoed everything, but Nico just can't remember.
"Who are you," She says miserably.
"I'm Nico," Nico responds automatically, because even though he can't remember his mother, the instinct of answering immediately was never forgotten. Old habits die hard and apparently are never forgotten. Realizing what has happened almost immediately, Nico slaps himself. "I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry?" The girl tells him, and Nico's shaking his head and his hands.
"No, no, don't apologize, it's my fault, not yours," And he cuts himself off before he can continue because he realizes what's happening. The girl can only repeat what he has just said. She isn't apologizing, she's just repeating his words because that's all she can do.
Nico realizes that he is a colossal idiot.
"Yours?" The girl repeats.
"Yeah, mine," Nico resists the urge to look away, because part of him knows that if he looks away the girl will just disappear, and furiously wracks his brain in an attempt to remember the tale behind this girl. Echoing someone for all eternity, sentenced to Asphodel… The realization hits Nico like a hard landing on the Underworld dirt.
"Echo!" He yelps in realization, pounding his fist in his palm, a smile coming to his face. "That's your name, isn't it? Right?"
"Isn't it! Right!" Echo is beaming, nodding, looking truly happy for the first time since Nico noticed her. She echoes the last word several times, clapping her hands. "Right, right, right!" And the way Echo's echo echoes across the fields causes Nico to inexplicably start laughing, and then because of Nico's laughter, Echo starts repeating it, filling the fields with the sound of their laughter.
Just two kids laughing. For a moment, it is almost like they are two normal kids. Almost.
When Nico finally contains his laughter, he finds that he has curled over himself, and finds it a chore to stand, his abdominal muscles strained from having laughed so much. He wipes his eyes before looking at Echo again. She looks at him, a smile still on her face, and Nico finds that Echo is really pretty when she smiles.
"You're pretty," He can't stop himself from telling her. Then, Nico realizes what he just said, and blushes before quickly amends, "I, I mean, when you smile. You're pretty when you smile. It's really pretty." Nico's waving his arms nervously, and wants to throw himself in the River Styx.
"Pretty." Echo's voice is thoughtful, and her pretty smile becomes smaller, and tears form in her eyes, and great, Nico's just made a girl cry, what would Mama say?
Before Nico can apologize, Echo's repeating him, saying the word pretty over and over again, like it's some spell Hecate put on her. She takes a step towards him, and catches his hands. Spirits have more power in the Underworld than on the surface, so Nico's not surprised when Echo feels relatively solid, and doesn't pass through him like most would expect a spirit to.
Echo gives Nico a smile, squeezes his hands, and leans over and kisses Nico on the lips.
"Pretty," She comments a last time mildly as she pulls away, while Nico freaks out, sputtering and wiping his mouth.
"Holy Hades," Nico yelps, forgetting himself for a moment and where he is, before sputtering, "What was that for?"
"For," Echo shrugs, before the area drops about ten degrees in temperature, and a shadow rises from the ground before peeling away to reveal Hades. He's holding a scroll in his hands that he seems thoroughly absorbed in, and Hades appears to not have noticed his change in scenery.
"D-Dad!" Nico yelps again, wondering for a moment why his father has appeared, before remembering that he had accidentally called his father by name, and that names in the Underworld have power.
"Nico," Hades drags his eyes away from the scroll and, blinking, doesn't seem very fazed by the abrupt change of scenery. Nico wonders how many times something like this must have happened for his father to not be bothered by it. He rolls the scroll up as he addresses Nico, "Was there something you needed? I wasn't aware that you had come here."
Normally because Nico never made a point to address his father before he left, but sometimes his father is waiting for him in his room in the palace to wake up and they have 'talks' which are awkward on both sides. Most times though, Nico leaves as soon as he can, before anyone can alert his father to his presence in the Underworld. If Nico had had it his way, he would have left before his father knew this time as well. As it is, it's Nico's own fault that he couldn't leave in time.
"Come here?" Echo asks, looking between the father and son. Nico jolts, having forgotten she was there, and then immediately feels bad about it.
"Ah, Echo," Hades addresses the once-nymph. "Doing well?"
"Doing well," Echo nods in agreement.
"Keeping out of trouble?"
"Out of trouble."
Watching Hades converse easily with Echo strikes a nerve in Nico, wondering how his father can chat like this with Echo, but has such a hard time talking with his own son. Probably, he thinks, because Echo can only repeat what anyone has just said, so it's easy to control the conversation.
"I'm fine," Nico eventually manages to answer his father. "Accidentally said your name, won't happen again. Promise." He doesn't look at his father, embarrassed.
"Swear on the Styx?" Hades says, an unfamiliar tone to his voice, and Nico jerks his head up, heart leaping to his throat. Though, "Joking, joking," he assures Nico, which is strange because he's never heard his father joke before.
"Now, if that's all," He looks between Nico and Echo (who Nico had forgotten about until he looked over at her when his father did), "I have work I need to be getting back to. Goodbye."
And with the same flare of melting shadows as he had arrived, Hades disappears the same way.
"Goodbye," Echo's voice is aimed at the spot where Hades had just been, but it's too late. Turning towards Nico, she repeats again, "Goodbye." She has a thoughtful look on her face, and before he can do anything, Echo darts in quick and kisses him once more.
"Goodbye!" She says once more brightly, smiling, before turning, and walking off.
Nico watches her leave, too stunned to say goodbye, fingers on his lips. Kissing a girl was nothing like he expected. He remembers, back when he stayed those few weeks at Camp Half-Blood, how the older campers would talk about kissing some of the other campers, and how it felt, but thinking back on what they said, he doesn't feel anything. Not the first time, either.
He feels like there's something wrong with him, not having felt anything when he had been kissed. Nico thinks that maybe he should call his father back, or go track him down, and ask him, but doesn't really want to bother Hades.
Nico drops to the ground, sitting, and scratches his head, trying to figure out why he didn't feel anything when he was kissed. It doesn't make sense, the Aphrodite kids said that everyone felt something when they were kissed, why didn't he?
But then Nico pauses and wonders, why is he fretting over having been kissed? Or having felt something or not when he was kissed?
He remembers the feeling of having been kissed, but not who actually kissed him. Nico stands up, and asks himself why he is worrying about this. He probably just imagined being kissed, which is weird, but something Nico chooses not to dwell on.
Standing up, he brushes off his jeans, and looks back at his father's palace. Nico briefly debates whether or not he should chance the palace kitchen– there's normally some sort of human food on hand he can eat, his father and some of the other Underworld dwellers are nice like that –but remembers that Persephone's lurking down here somewhere, and doesn't want to chance the encounter. He still gets nightmares about being a geranium.
Sighing, he closes his eyes and focuses on a point top-side to return to. There's a nice graveyard in New Orleans, and he pictures it in his head, before taking the leap.
Nico runs into one of the Asphodel trees the first time, knocked to the ground, but stands up, shaking it off, before trying once more. This time, he vanishes into the shadow.
There's the thrilling rush of being shoved headfirst at top speed, and then he's gone in the shadows. Into the shadows, and into the unknown. Where he belongs.
So Echo's characterization in Mark of Athena really bothered me after I found out the real myth behind her. None of the ones I found supported what the Nymphs said she did, and the ones I did find said that Echo was cursed by Hera for constantly being the one that distracted her and kept her from finding out when Zeus was canoodling with Echo's Nymph sisters. I hope I did justice in mixing her character from the books and how she probably would have been, and I hope you guys enjoyed this!