Nico di Angelo

He ate lunch, thankfully. He wasn't starving himself.

When I went to grab us some dinner, though, I got back and Percy was just sitting there, looking guilty.

"Hey, I'm back!" I told him, putting the pizza box down on the table before walking over to the son of Poseidon and placing my hand on his shoulder. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Uh... I, I uh..." Percy started off, and I guess I wasn't thinking of looking down. "I don't really know why, I uh— I cut while you were gone."

But sure enough, when I looked down, his arms were wrapped with the wrap stuff from the first aid kit.

Unsure as to what I could actually do, I pulled Percy into a hug, sort of like yesterday. I was facing him this time, though. I could see the miserable look on his face.

"Can I ask why?" I asked Percy, worried that he was going to start making this a habit.

Percy shrugged.

"I don't know," he told me as he reached for my hand and I wasn't about to deny him what he wanted, so I let him hold my hand. "It just happened and it— I guess it was distracting. A different kind of pain."

I gave his hand a small squeeze and flashed him a sad smile.

If I wasn't a coward and just told him how I felt, it might help. But at the same time it might make things a lot worse for now.

"I was planning on breaking up with her when she got to New York," Percy told me, which was a surprise for me. "Not like immediately. But once she was settled at camp and..."

He stopped for a second.

"Nico, I think I might be gay."

Shit.

Because I know what he's thinking. That it's a huge risk to say that to me. Probably for the same reason I don't tell Hazel.

What if I'm against that sort of thing. I guess the term would be homophobic.

Obviously, I'm not. I'm gay.

But he doesn't know that.

I squatted down to his eye level, and rubbed his cheek with my thumb, which made him look back at me.

"Hey, it's alright," I assured my long-term crush. "there's nothing wrong with it, Percy. Absolutely nothing, okay?"

Slightly shocked, he just looked at me.

"You're not...?"

"Homophobic? Gods no," I insisted. "Do you want to know why Jason and I started to talk to each other more often?"

"What? Why?"

I smiled at Percy.

"We ran into Cupid," I explained to the son of Poseidon. "he's kind of an asshole. He forced me to come out. Jason was the only person who knew that I'm gay up until now. It was like we had a thing, it wasn't like that. He was just the only person that knew. It's okay."

"Oh, uh... Shit," Percy remarked and I saw him kind of blush.

"Hm?" I asked and Percy looked back down at our hands.

"What uh... What would you do if, just like hypothetically," Percy started out, kind of tripping over his words. Seemingly nervous, anxious. "I said that I was going to break up with Annabeth because I like you."

His eyes were locked on our hands, terrified of looking at my response.

But I had to smile.

"I think that, hypothetically, of course," I responded to the thought. "I'd tell you that I like you, too."