26. Untouchable – Harry/Nico di Angelo (PJO/HOO)

Did you hear about the son of Thanatos, they would say. Can't touch anyone. He'll kill them if he does. He's got the touch of death. Poor ki—what a weirdo—freak—

Though Harry tries not to hold it against them, it's hard. Having people whisper behind your back and refuse to touch you because of a power you can't yet control is hard. They don't understand, and Harry barely understands it himself – if he could get rid of these powers, he would.

But he can't, so he doesn't, and he lives.

(Even the Apollo kids avoid him, and they're some of the nicer ones.)

So he does most things by himself, avoids contact with anyone else and lives like he had even at the Dursleys. It's been five years, and even still, he finds himself being treated almost as he had been when he was with them – like a plague, as if even making eye contact with him could kill them all.

"Stop looking so down. You're not completely untouchable."

The words take him by surprise, and he looks up to the son of Hades, standing above him with a small frown on his features. It's almost like he understands, and Harry supposes that he does. He's heard rumours of the other, has been told how he was treated when he first arrived at Camp despite his previously bright demeanour (before he lost the only family he'd had, at the time).

"My touch kills. I'm pretty sure that's the definition of untouchable." Harry mumbles in reply, looking warily at the other demigod. As much as he wants to trust, he doesn't know what Nico is going to do – how he's going to treat him, due to his killing touch (and di immortales, he still remembers the boy he'd killed – bright blue eyes, brown hair, mischievous grin. Thankfully not a fellow demigod, but still painful to think about nonetheless).

"Hades and Thanatos have a close relationship. You can't hurt me," the son of Hades reaches forward, as if to touch Harry, who flinches away from the touch. It's not out of fear of what the other would do to him if they did touch, but what he could do to Nico. "Trust me. We're both going to be fine."

After a moment of stillness, Nico begins to reach forward again. Slower this time, more careful, and he places his hand against Harry's cheek.

Harry's breath stops, he waits for something to happen, for Nico to drop.

But nothing does happen.

(Harry's eyes burn, but he refuses to acknowledge it as being caused by tears. Instead, he grins brighter than any child of Apollo could, and throws himself at Nico. Ignores the stiffening of the other boy's slim body, and instead clings to him as tight as he can.)

a/n: hey, guys! it's been a while. i've been kind of busy recently, but more drabbles should be happening soon!

i've been going through this fic and editing some of the stories. so far, #5, 12, 13, 19, 21, 23 and 24 have been updated to varying degrees - some completely, some grammatical changes, some adding stuff in. go ahead and reread them, if you like!

i hope you enjoyed this drabble! nico is a sweetie. ;u;