One Shots (HoO)

*This one shot takes place after Sun Bathing*

As I paced around camp, I felt as a wave of nervousness washed over me.

When you spend your entire life trying to fight against who you are, is hard to reveal the truth about you to an important person in your life.

I knew what I was since I was a little kid, but I knew that my identity went against nature… I recognized that I was an aberration. I wasn’t supposed to like men, yet there I was… Feeling butterflies in my stomach every time I saw a cute guy… My wildest dreams were made up off the wrong material.

Time seemed endless at the hotel. I felt as each day I was a little bit more consumed by the darkness of my own secret…

I tried to hide in my own shell… but she wouldn’t let me…

She knew that something was wrong with me and she wanted to help…

She wasn’t like me at all… She wasn’t troubled… She was beautiful, she was wonderful… She was the one ray of light that sneaked into my dark hideout.

Bianca didn’t ask what was wrong with me; her worry was unspoken… I could see it in her eyes every time she looked at me. At first I didn’t wanted to tell her… I didn’t want the person I loved most to get away from me; I didn’t want her to get disappointed in me…

The pain grew with each passing, the agony of dealing with feelings that seemed to be wrong soon proved to be unbearable…Then I understood that I had to tell her; I understood that she was going to help me carry my burden.

She didn’t disappoint. She was the only that truly accepted me.

She told me that she knew the truth all along, and that she was glad that I trusted her so much as to tell her… From that day on we were even more inseparable. She was always ready to defend me, to support me.

Then she was gone… and I felt as darkness consumed me once again.

In my life’s long voyage I’d faced a lot of trials, but not one of them was as tough as facing Cupid.

Now that Jason, Reyna, Annabeth and Percy knew about my sexuality, it was time to tell the others. It was time for people to get to know me for who I really was.

I was on my way to Hazel’s cabin. That’s why I was so nervous.

Hazel and I had grown to love each other and now we had a perfect sibling’s relationship.

What made me unsure was the fact that I knew she was a bit old-fashioned.

Whenever some of us made a comment about something extremely modern, she would make a face, not quite understanding our point of view.

What if she was uncomfortable about me being homosexual?

I just wanted her to accept me, I wanted her to understand.

I knocked on her door and soon enough she was there, beaming at me; with her wild curls more tangled than ever.

“Nico!” she screamed as she hugged me. “I wasn’t expecting you! Well… I guess you can tell by the way my hair looks. Sorry, I look horrendous.”

“None of that, you look adorable.”

She chuckled. “That’s your good-big-brother side speaking for you… Anyways, what brings you here in this lovely day? I thought you were going to stay at Camp Half-Blood.”

My sneakers suddenly became really interesting. “Yeah, that was the plan, but… there’s something I need to do before going back there… I… I need to tell you something.”

The smile on Hazel’s face erased as she suddenly became serious. “What is it, Nico? Is there something wrong? You know you can tell me anything.”

I took a deep breath. “Let’s go outside. I think I’ll feel better there.”

“Okay, just give me a minute. I’ll change and then go outside.”

“Perfect. I’ll be on the rooftop.”

As I climbed to the roof, I felt as my limbs went cold. I felt like a little boy all over again… I felt like the child that was telling Bianca all about his true self.

My stomach revolted, as I thought about what was to come. I was going to expose myself before my little sister; I was about to show her my skeleton.

The warmth of her dark skin against my pale one brought me back to reality.

I could see the worry in her golden eyes.

She took one of my hands into on of hers. “What is it, Nico? I can tell that whatever you came to tell me is troubling you… Just tell me, I know you’ll feel a lot better if you do.”

The pleading expression on her face told me that I should’ve hurried up, but I couldn’t; I was too nervous.

“First things first… How are you…You know… Getting use to all these? Getting used to living in this crazy modern world?”

“Why are we talking about me?” she asked, a small smile playing on her lips.

“Trust me… It’s all connected. Just tell me how it is going for you…”

“Well… I still feel a little strange at times… The world has changed so much since I left… The buildings are different, traditions have changed, technology is ruling over… But I think I’m doing good. I’ll probably feel at home in this era soon enough. You inspire me to do so, since you’d adapted to all these so greatly.”

“Yeah, but my transition was different… Yours was a lot rougher…”

She seemed to ponder what I was saying. “Yeah, that’s true.”

“I sometimes notice that some of the things we say make you kind of uncomfortable… Like when we talk about the possibility of Percy and Annabeth getting married soon enough.”

“I wouldn’t say that I feel uncomfortable… I would just say that those kind of things are still weird for me… Like the day they slept together at the Argo II… I know they just slept, but it’s still weird for me to hear that those kinds of liberties are normal nowadays.”

My worries confirmed in that moment… But there was no turning back, I had to tell her about my reality; she deserved to know.

She was so young and innocent before my eyes… But I hoped that she would be able to understand, that she would be able to love me and accept me no matter what.

“What is it, Nico? Just tell me. Why are you asking me all this?”

I stood up, and started pacing around the roof.

“You probably know that something happened when Jason and I went together to Salona…”

Her expression shifted to a puzzled one; she had absolutely no idea where this was going. “Well… Is not like somebody confirmed it, but I always felt like something went on down there because you and Jason started acting a bit strange ever since… Jason seemed way more fond of you.”

I remembered Jason supporting me and my heart warmed; the image of one of my dear friends giving me courage to tell my little sister about my secret.

“Yeah, something happened there. As you know, we found Cupid there and well… It wasn’t the sweetest of encounters…”

“I never knew about the details…” she said, raising an eyebrow.

“Because I didn’t want people to know… What happened was that Cupid made me speak about my feelings… In front of Jason… He obligated me to talk about some feelings I hadn’t say out loud. That was a first.”

I sat down; my heels didn’t feel as strong as before.

“You were in love…” she whispered, suddenly understanding.

“Yes I was in love… I was crazily in love with someone I wasn’t supposed to be in loved with. A person from camp that wasn’t capable of reciprocating my feelings.”

Hazel sucked in a breath. “You were heartbroken and Cupid… Cupid tried to make fun of you, he wanted to make you feel bad.”

“It was more than that.” I said, grimacing. “As Cupid said himself, love is never fair. It surely wasn’t fair for me.”

“Who was it? Whom did you love?”

“I…” I started to tremble. “I was fighting my feelings because I knew they were pointless… I was trying to hide away from the entire world. No one could help me, no one could understand. Bianca was the only one that did understand and she died…”

“I’m so sorry for that… But now you have me, you have us. You know you can count on all of us.” she squeezed my hand, reassuring me.

“Yes, I know that now… And after all… Cupid was right about one thing…”

“What was he right about?” asked Hazel, warily.

“He told me that the only way to conquer my feelings was to face them. I did as he asked to… and I succeeded.”

Hazel patted my back, sympathetically. “Tell me… Whom did you love?” she asked again.
I took a deep breath. “I was so scared when I faced Cupid because like I said before, I loved someone that I wasn’t supposed to love…”

“Yeah?”

“Hazel, I wasn’t supposed to love the person I loved because I was in love with a guy… I was in love with Percy. I am homosexual, Haze.”

When I dropped the bomb, I felt as if the entire world froze for a second. Everything seemed to quiet down, as if the entire environment was put on mute for an instant.

Then I saw as a flash of surprise crossed through her eyes, but the expression of surprise was soon replaced by something else… A warm feeling, maybe compassion, perhaps understanding; I wasn’t sure.

“It all makes sense now… That’s why you were so terrified of Cupid.”

“Yes, that’s why. I wasted most of my life trying to deny my feelings. The darkness that was slowly consuming me came from there… it came from my fear and my shame. I felt like I wasn’t supposed to be like that, Haze. I felt as if I was a freak.”

“You are not a freak.”

“You seriously don’t think I’m a freak?”

“Of course I don’t silly! You’re different, but you’re a good different… I get why you were asking me about how I felt about this society. You thought I wouldn’t understand you liking another guy.”

“Yes, I feared that because I know that… Being homosexual wasn’t appreciated in our times. If you were homosexual you were judged, you were condemned.”

She engulfed me into a tight embrace. “I might be a little old-fashioned, Nico, but it doesn’t matter. You’re my brother and I love you more than you can ever imagine. I accept you as who you are because for me, your flaws are what make you so perfect. You’re so precious, Nico. Far more precious than you can reckon. I love you, and we all love you. That will never change. And the one thing I know is that love should never be condemned. Because love is not a choice; love is something that happens naturally. Love should have no color, no race, no gender. I will always support you from now on, Nico. Because I know what it’s like to be rejected and persecuted. I love you, Nico and I know our Father does too.”

I hugged her tighter, clutching to her for dear life.

I didn’t know why I ever doubted Hazel; she was so understanding and supportive.

“And I love you too, Haze.”

We finally broke the embrace, and I saw her beaming at me.

“I’m so glad you told me, I think I was always suspicious…”

“Oh, come on!” I protested.

“I’m just kidding!” she laughed. “But hey… I know you don’t like Percy anymore… So… Tell me, whom do you like?”

I was suddenly nervous again. “NO ONE!” I screamed at her.

“OH YOU’RE SOOOO IN LOVE! I can tell by the way you told you liked no one, you childish boy!”

“I’ll just say I found out that I like blonds better than brunets…”

She started laughing hysterically. “Don’t tell me you like Jason! Piper is totally going to murder you!”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re so stupid.”

“Ouch. I thought you loved me a few seconds ago.”

“Hazel… I loved Percy Jackson… I am totally capable of loving stupid.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Stop avoiding my question, di Angelo! Tell me who it is!”

“I… I’m a relationship… with Will Solace.”

Hazel jumped up so high I was scared she would fall down the rooftop
.
“WHAT? WILL SOLACE AND YOU? I guess opposites do attract!” she teased me. “He’s like a ray of sunshine and you’re like a gray stormy cloud!”

“Ha, ha. Very funny, Hazel.” I gave her the death stare. The death stare has a whole new meaning when it comes to children of the Underworld.

“Don’t give me the stare! I was just kidding… I actually think you guys look cute together!”

I couldn’t help the huge smile that crept to my lips. “Thank you. I know.”

“Arrogant boy. Let’s go eat something, I’m starving.”

“Perfect, I am starving too.”

We came down the rooftop and I took Hazel to the dining room in piggyback ride.
My life was definitely changing for the better. I was finally the lucky one.

Notes