𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐢━━Nico di Angelo

48

Nico looked horrified. He looked like he wanted to melt into the shadows and never come back. He looked young, but broken. Something snapped inside Ajax.

"Fuck you!" He screamed, "Honestly, fuck you. Because you're love. This isn't love. You want secrets in return for the scepter? Ask me."

"I like men and women and it took me a long time to realise that. It took me longer to accept it." Ajax was sure all of them were close to tears, "Give him time. Don't make him do anything. Please, come after me. Not him"

Make him? He'll do it willingly. He chooses which secret he tells.

Jason and Ajax looked at Nico expectedly.

Nico's voice was like broken glass. "I—I wasn't in love with Annabeth."

"You don't have to" Jason said. Realization was slowly dawning on him as well. "We'll find another way-"

"There is no other way" Nico yelled out. He wanted Ajax to shut up. He was complicating everything. He couldn't think.

He wanted all of them to shut up. Nico wanted everything to stop.

"You were jealous of Annabeth," Jason spoke again. "That's why you didn't want to be around her. Especially why you didn't want to be around...him. It makes total sense."

All the fight and denial seemed to go out of Nico at once. The darkness subsided. The Roman dead collapsed into bones and crumbled to dust.

Nico di Angelo fell down in a heap.

A fallen angel.

Ajax hobbled away from Jason. He didn't care if he felt like throwing up, he didn't care that he could collapse at any moment, he didn't care about anything else. All that mattered was Nico di Angelo.

"Gods, you two" Jason followed.

"I hated myself," Nico said, still on the ground "I hated Percy Jackson."

Cupid became visible—a lean, muscular young man with snowy white wings, straight black hair, a simple white frock and jeans. The bow and quiver slung over his shoulder were no toys—they were weapons of war. His eyes were as red as blood, as if every Valentine in the world had been squeezed dry, distilled into one poisonous mixture. His face was handsome, but also harsh—as difficult to look at as a spotlight. He watched Nico with satisfaction, as if he'd identified the exact spot for his next arrow to make a clean kill.

"I liked Percy. A childish fucking crush" Nico spat. "That's the truth. That's the big secret."

He glared at Cupid. "Happy now?"

Ajax wanted to rip the god apart.

For the first time, Cupid's gaze seemed sympathetic. "Oh, I wouldn't say Love always makes you happy." His voice sounded smaller, much more human. "Sometimes it makes you incredibly sad. But at least you've faced it now. That's the only way to conquer me."

"If you ever need a little push in the right direction" Ajax thought Cupid glanced at him for a second, "You know where to find me"

Cupid dissolved into the wind.

On the ground where he'd stood lay an ivory staff three feet long, topped with a dark globe of polished marble about the size of a baseball, nestled on the backs of three gold Roman eagles. The scepter of Diocletian.

Nico knelt and picked it up. He regarded Jason, as if waiting for an attack. Ajax finally did collapse. Panic attacks and draining himself by using magic were a really bad combination.

Nico and Jason rushed to him. But Ajax looked up at the sky. Two faces looked down at him.

All of this was just so fucking unreal.

"I fucking knew someone else on the ship was queer" Ajax said, mostly to himself. "Welcome to the community di Angelo"

"Wait, you.. Too?" Jason looked at him with curiosity. "I know you said it just now-"

"Yeah. I'm bisexual. I meant everything I said" Ajax let them help him to his feet.

Nico wasn't as open about it as Ajax was. And that's okay. Everyone is on a different path, its futile to compare. He would get there eventually.

Nico looked at Jason, "If the others found out—"

"If the others found out," Jason said, "you'd have that many more people to back you up, and to unleash the fury of the gods on anybody who gives you trouble."

Nico scowled. Ajax still felt the resentment and anger rippling off him.

"For the record," Ajax said, his arm was draped over Jason's shoulder. The other boy was holding him up. "I would fight the gods for you" He told Nico.

He wasn't joking, Nico knew that.

Nico hated Percy, that was true. He hated Ajax as well. He despised him. He hated his guts.

He felt butterflies.

Fuck.

"But it's your call," Jason added. "Your decision to share or not. I can only tell you—"

"I don't feel that way anymore," Nico muttered. "I mean...I gave up on Percy. I was young and impressionable, and I—I don't..."

His voice cracked. A tear slipped out. Ajax felt high, like nothing right now was real. So what if he did reach out and brush the tear away from Nico's cheek? So what Nico looked at him through his long lashes, the sharp cheekbones no longer so intimidating. It didn't matter.

All that mattered was that they were okay.

Ajax wasn't calm, not by a long shot. He hated Cupid. He hated Love.

"Nico," Jason said gently, "I've seen a lot of brave things. But what you just did? That was maybe the bravest."

"No, it was unnecessary" Ajax said. "Cupid shouldn't have done that. He shouldn't have forced you to out yourself. Not to anyone. You don't owe that information to anyone"

Nico swallowed.

"You helped" He admitted. "Before you- it was- I hated it. But then you told me about it all. And you told me it was okay. And- And fuck" Nico faltered. What the fuck was wrong with him that day? "You made me stop hating that part of myself"

Jason made no noise. This was personal. Between the two of them. Hazel and Piper were right, whatever was happening between them was theirs.

He watched Ajax open his mouth and close it repeatedly, until even he realized he looked stupid.

Nico looked up uncertainly. Too much emotions. Even Jason was about to cry. "We should get back to the ship."

"Yeah. I can fly us—"

"No," Ajax announced. Please, gods no"

Nico agreed, "This time we're shadow-traveling. I've had enough of the winds for a while."