Disclaimer: All the wonderful characters that we all know and love/hate were created by good old Uncle Rick Riordan. (Any characters that you don't recognize are mine).

Once upon a time, in a far off land, long ago, there lived a dashing young prince named Nicolas di Angelo. This is the story of how he fell in love with a beautiful, kind, princess.

Yeah…...no.

'Nicolas' is Nico, he wasn't a 'dashing young prince', it wasn't long ago, it happened in New York City, Nico is me, and can anything be 'upon a time'?

Also, this isn't the story of how I fell in love with some random girl.

This is the story of my life.

Let's get this show on the road by talking about my family.

My mom, Maria di Angelo, met my dad, Hades di Angelo, during her senior year at high school. My dad was very rich and decided that he would drop out after he graduated high school, my mom joined him.

Immediately after they graduated they got married and had my older sister Bianca di Angelo. Two years later, they had my twin sister, Nicole Maria di Angelo, and me, Nicolas Hyperion di Angelo.

A little more than a year after we were born, my dad got drunk and got a lady named Marie Levesque pregnant. She died during childbirth, leaving her daughter, Hazel Levesque, in my father's care.

Let's get something straight. My mom and dad loved each other very much. Hazel was just the result of a bad decision.

Shortly after Nikki and I turned eight, our mother was diagnosed with severe lung cancer. Two years and a lot of treatment later, she died.

Let's get another thing straight. I do not want your pity. If I could, I would leave my mom's death out of this, but, seeing as this was a major point in my life, I can't. Just know that I do NOT want your pity.

Three awful years after mom died, dad got remarried to a lady named Persephone who became my step-mom.

Two years after their wedding, Bianca decided to go out with her friends. They were about ten girls who called themselves 'The Hunters' because they refused to date thinking that it was a distraction from their studies.

They decided to go to dinner, forcing Percy Jackson to drive them because even though they were all around seventeen none of them had passed their driver's test.

On the way home, they were hit by a drunk man who ran a red light. Bianca was killed instantly, and her best friend Zoe Nightshade died four hours later.

Before Bianca left, I made Percy promise to keep her safe and to drive well, so after he told Nikki and me that she had died, I resented him pretty badly.

Looking back, I realize that I only hated him because I had a crush on him. I know that it sounds super weird so I'll explain.

I am a dude. Fully male. 100% guy. So when I realized that I had a crush on another dude, I was shocked and confused. I had never been taught anything about LGBTQ+ so when I figured out about my crush on Percy, I freaked out.

I thought that I was a freak. That I was the only person in the entire world who had a crush on someone who was their same gender. I convinced myself that I had to hate him.

So, when he told me about Bianca, I saw this as the perfect excuse to hate him.

Get it now.

A few months later his girlfriend Annabeth and Nikki convinced me to forgive him, which I kind of did.

About a year later, my new friend Jason, Nikki, and I had been talking about all the girls who had a crush on Percy, and I accidentally let slip that in the past I had a major crush on him.

"I mean, Percy does have a lot of admirable qualities, and he is kind of hot, but all those girls should realize that he has a girlfriend and back off. I eventually did."

Nikki dropped the pencil that she was twirling and looked up from her homework with a look of pure shock on her face, and Jason choked on his water.

I was about to ask what they were staring at when I realized what I had said. I covered my mouth with my hand and moved to get up and leave when I was stopped by Nikki and Jason exclaiming, "I KNEW IT!"

"What?" I asked as Nikki smirked.

"I knew that you had a crush on Percy. It was so obvious, Nico," she said with a wide smile on her face.

"I knew that you were gay, but I had no idea that you liked Percy," he stated.

"You knew? How?"
"Well, you were kind of obsessed with him." Nikki started.

"You've never stared at a girl before, but you always stare at guys." Jason continued.

"'Hey Bianca, how's Percy doing?'" Nikki added.

"In P.E. you never look at the other dudes, and you change in the showers." Jason reasoned.

"'Oh, I'm sorry about that Bianca. What did Percy do about it?'" Nikki went on.

"And the first time that I took off my shirt in front of you, you yelped and turned away," Jason remembered.

"Okay, I get it. You can stop now." I interrupted, knowing for a fact that my cheeks were on fire.

"Hate to break it to you but you're kind of obvious." Nikki deadpanned.

"So I guess you know," I said after an awkward silence.

"Duh!" they said in unison.

"And you don't hate me for it?"

"No! Of course not Neeks, you're my twin brother, I love you no matter what." Nikki comforted.

"I second that. You are like my little brother, Neeks. I don't care who you like." Jason continued.

"Just because I'm shorter than you doesn't make me your 'little brother' Jason," I stated.

"Well, I am exactly 211 days older than you," Jason stated.

"I can't believe you actually know that."

"Of course he does," Nikki said as she rolled her eyes.

About a year after that is when the real story starts.