Alone Again (Percico/Pernico AU)

Chapter 41

Heyyyy kids. So I was reading a couple previous chapters to kind of refresh when the characters were mentioned last and random details and whatnot, and apparently Nico has had his own car this whole time??? Like Jason's just been driving him everywhere (lmao poor Jason is the chauffeur in all my fanfics) when he could've done it himself???

When I finish this book, ya girl needs to do some editing whoops.

Okay so this really is more of a filler chapter while I come up with some kind of idea to advance the plot. Hope y'all are okay with that ahaha.

Anyways, carry on and excuse my random author's notes littered in different parts of the chapter.😂

[SLIGHT TRIGGER WARNING: brief mention of suicide (in conversation, not portrayed)]

Even if it was a secret Nico likely couldn't handle by himself.
*****

On the Sunday following Nico's last visit, Nico found himself surprised at the larger than average amount of people in the detention's cafeteria area during visiting hours when he arrived. More often than not, Nico came to see Percy after the designated hours for visitors simply because Dionysus didn't much care when he was there anymore. On the rare occasion that a police vehicle was outside, Nico just drove home and returned the following day.

Standing in one large group was eight people. Connor, Clarisse, and Percy were all obviously there, and Travis had recently returned as well. Clarisse's best friend Silena, who Nico had only met once or twice, and Silena's boyfriend, whom Percy had referred to as Beckendorf when introducing Nico, was also sitting there. Grover was there as well, standing next to Percy. And finally, Chris Rodriguez had apparently decided to come see his previous fellow delinquents, his face showing the same lack of emotion that Nico remembered from the last time he'd seen Chris.

His eyes subconsciously drifted over to Percy, who met the glance with his classic closed-mouthed smile that Nico had grown so used to. Nico smiled back to acknowledge that he'd seen Percy, continuing his strides over to where he was standing.

Grover, seemingly finishing up whatever he'd been saying to Percy, glanced over as Nico approached. "Nico, you're here!"

The brown-eyed boy shrugged. "I'm always here."

Clarisse looked back over her shoulder from her conversation to throw in a, "He's not wrong!" before returning to speaking with the others.

Percy rolled his eyes at her before looking over at Nico. "Oh, did you see that Travis got back yesterday after you left?"

Grover smirked as Nico nodded. The former had heard from a few of the friends within their circle that Nico had practically developed a daily schedule to visit Percy but never felt the need to ask about it. Grover had been hoping he wasn't the only one of his friends to believe there was some different kind of connection between Nico and Percy, despite seeing so little of their interactions together. Whether that connection was platonic or romantic, Grover really had no clue, but he felt it was rather obvious that it was there.

Lost in thought, Grover had apparently missed part of the conversation, for when he started paying attention again, the first thing he heard was Percy's, "Yeah, I guess I'll just have to deal with Clarisse because they deal with each other," followed by a nearly inaudible, "especially since Connor's now on my suicide watch."