Nico hated life. It always gave him the short end of the stick.

Why in the name of all things good and right was Percy flipping Jackson standing before him now, looking at him, looking at him like for all the world Nico knew all the answers to life's greatest mysteries.

"I know you don't I?" reverberated through his soul, and for a moment than to take advantage of the situation, to say "Yes", to tell Percy that the dreams he had at night were reality, to make them reality. But he couldn't, he just couldn't. So he lied. He said "No."

But he couldn't stop himself from staring, he couldn't. This wasn't the brave, cocky, selfless hero he had fallen for, the boy was lost, confused, and almost… lonely. Nico wanted nothing more than to walk over to him, to wrap his arms around him, to hold and be held. But no. He didn't deserve the luxury, not even when Percy was finally within reach. The Percy that Nico saw now was human, oh so wonderfully human, not the high and mighty unattainable son of the sea that Percy didn't know he was.

But he couldn't, so he ignored it, he left the camp and pretended that nothing had happened. Percy left with Frank and Nico's sister Hazel, wonderful Hazel who was so much like Bianca. The three of them went off on their quest, Nico's life went on, but the constant worry still ping panged at his heart.

Then the Giants came, they captured him and stuffed him in a jar like a freak to be laughed at, or an alien to be experimented on. Like every nightmare he had had at night since he found out that even as a demigod, he was- he was different, even more different than he had originally thought. Whoever heard of a gay son of Hades anyway?

So he lay in his jar and ate pomegranate seeds, one each day, praying to every god he knew of, to the God his mother had praised, the one who's cross she had worn around her neck inlaid with Onyx. And he waited.

They came, they rescued him when he was half alive, still confused and still dying for water. It took him a while, but he did get better. But then they found the Athena Parthenos.

Annabeth fell, and for a terrifying moment, Nico thought "good riddance." But he immediately started hating himself for it. Percy of course grabbed her hand and heart wrenchingly told her he wasn't losing her again, and Nico wished futilely that Percy would say that to him, just once. But Percy was still hanging on, and panic shot through Nico's body like a rocket, worry zooming into his heart. Percy began to slip and Nico grabbed his hand, desperately holding, clutching, hanging on to the hand of the boy he loved since the first day. Since the first time Annabeth fell.

But he wasn't strong enough. They fell and Nico wished that he had the guts to shout down all his pent up emotions. But he didn't. It wasn't until Cupid grabbed him that he even acknowledged his aching, broken heart.

Cupid was a jerk bag, he hunted Nico and Jason like prey, taunting and teasing. It wasn't enough though, he could yell his lungs out but Nico had learned how to keep quiet. It wasn't until Cupid had shot him square in the heart with his arrow that Nico finally spoke up, he tried to use Annabeth as his scapegoat, but Cupid saw right through it, "Still hiding…." reverberated in the air. But it was ok, Jason got it, and thank goodness for Jason, but curse him as well. How could someone be so accepting? How could the bronze warrior that was Jason possibly understand everything that Nico had lived through in his short but long life? He couldn't, that was the answer, and try as he might he couldn't. Nico's thoughts were beyond comprehension to the Roman who had everything come naturally to him.

So Jason knew, and maybe that was good, he kept trying to make him tell the others, to tell Percy, but that wasn't happening. Not as long as he was breathing.

Breathing, that was a funny thing, how his breathe hitched when he saw Percy and Annabeth again, how it caught in his throat when he thought that Jason would look at him with disgust, how it sighed when he left himself to his thoughts. How it accelerated when he jumped in front of Percy to shield him from the wrath of Gaea, and it became ragged and painful when he fell to his side and lay there, surrounded by the Seven, what was he doing here anyway? He wasn't part of the quest, ruefully he gave a small laugh, and he was going to die wasn't he? The laugh grew deeper and louder, coming out of the gut of his stomach, filling up his very soul. This was what he wanted wasn't it? For the pain to ebb away into nothingness? But now all he wanted was to live, to feel the sun on his face, but in the dark cavern somewhere in Greece, he was going to die. He could be reincarnated again, maybe he would find Bianca again, he would try for the Isles of the Blessed, it was lonely there, true, but Bianca would probably get there, and the others who died in his lifetime, Percy might even be there some day. Percy, Percy was looking at him with sad eyes, he shouldn't be sad; this meant that he would always be with Annabeth, that Nico would never get in their way like he wanted to. With what little strength he had left he lifted his arm to tenderly touch Percy's face, to caress the smooth skin of the boy he loved.

"Don't cry." He whispered as he wiped away a lone tear.

"You're not supposed to die; no one is, please…" Percy's voice was broken, tears now openly streaming down his face. "I'm sorry, this is all my fault, I-I shouldn't have, I should have-" He was cut off by Nico's ragged breathing.

"Don't say you're sorry, it isn't your fault, it my choice." Nico whispered in all sincerity, "I think I'll try for the Isles, Bianca did. Maybe I can find her again, it wasn't your fault for her either, I see that now… I forgive you Percy, I forgive you Percy Jackson." His eyes fluttered as his voice grew distanced.

"Please, Nico please. You can do this, we can make it back to Camp, don't die know, Hazel needs you, your friends need you, I- I need you" Annabeth reached out a comforting hand to Percy, but he barely felt it.

"It's too late now…. I see it already, looks like Shakespeare and Amelia Earhart are on judge duty with Minos today… That will be interesting…"

"Please, there must be something I can do!" begged Percy, tears still sliding wet and fat down his cheeks.

"Just… Just… let me look at you…" When Percy complied Nico pushed himself up and with the last ounce of strength he had in his dying body, he pressed his lips to the demigod before him's and whispered quietly, "I never thought I'd ever do that, and with the kiss on his lips, and the green-blue eyes of Poseidon's favorite son on him, Nico Di Angelo, the boy out of time, the freak son of Hades, closed his eyes for the last time.