Nico

His arms were covered in fresh scars when I got back. Kind the ones you get from water healing or Chiron's magic healing.

They were definitely from cutting

"I'm sorry." Percy apologized as soon as he saw me. "Chiron already took away Riptide so I can't..."

I pulled him into a hug, just happy that he was alive.

"It's okay," I assured my boyfriend, knowing better than to give him a squeeze after his mom's beating him. He definitely had bruises this morning when I woke up. "You're alive, Percy. That's what matters."

He nodded his head as I pulled out of the hug, not wanting to accidentally bump a bruise or accidentally hurt anything in general.

"Are you feeling alright?" I asked him, holding his hands as we sat on my bed. He still looked tired.

"Eh," Percy responded, shrugging. "Not really better but it's not like I can do much, so... I do want to go to service today, though. Late service is in an hour, then I won't have to deal with Mom. I promise, my pastor is nicer than my mom. He's actually cool, his daughter is bi and he's chill. You don't have to go if you don't want, but like..."

"No, I'll go." I insisted, figuring then maybe I could get some insight to what all of this means. "I mean, I went to church when I was little. I remember a little of it. It can't hurt to learn about another religion."

"I mean, if you really want to go, I won't stop you." My boyfriend figured, shrugging. "It is different than like, a Catholic church, though. Being I like, start training for my mission."

"Your... What are you going to do?" I questioned, having never heard of a church mission before. "Find Jesus? Take him down here?"

That got him to laugh.

"No," my boyfriend said, still getting over laughing. "That's... No. When I turn twenty I'll be sent off somewhere for six months to recruit Mormons. I'll find out where at service today. And then when I get back, I'm supposed to get married, but that... We'll have to pull a few strings for that one. It'll work, though."

"Oh..." I remarked. "That sounds cool. But what am I supposed to wear to church?"

Percy sighed and we went to his wardrobe, where he pulled out a white button up that was definitely too small for him, probably my size, and then he grabbed a tie and said my pants were fine. Black jeans, they were new.

Fun fact: I don't know how to tie a tie. I've never had to before, so like... I messed up.

His smile was cute when he saw how messed up it was, though. And he just walked over, his tie perfect.

"That's not how you tie a tie, honey."

"Honey?" I questioned. "What are we? 30?"

He chucked and grabbed my tie, giving me a kiss before starting to work on my tie.

At least he knows how to tie a tie.

"Well if you're 30 and can't tie a tie..." He remarked and I scoffed.

"I'm sorry," I apologized defensively, slightly offended. "I've never had to tie my own. My mom always did for church. I haven't worn anything that nice since."

Percy just chuckled and gave me a kiss on the cheek before we left.

Percy

I was actually excited to go, being I didn't have to go with my mom. It made me feel kind of grown up. Like I go to church on my own. That's wild.

The good news about my mission is that I'll be in Canada. Newfoundland. Which I've been there before. On 9/11, we were on our way back from visiting family in Poland, which was amazing. But we flew out of Germany and yeah.

So I was excited for that. It'd be fun.

But before that, I had problems to take care of. Some of which, I decided to talk to Pastor Ryan about.

Pastor Ryan was great, as I've said before. And I found out during service that he himself isn't straight. He is bi. He's still married to his wife, but before he became a pastor, he had a few boyfriends. One of them comes here with his husband now.

His daughter, Kelly, was here, too. And I missed her a lot. She saw me before I saw her.

"Percy!" Kelly said, coming towards me, which had her dad's attention as he also made his way over. "You're here! Your family was here earlier, where were you? Your mom didn't say anything."

"Oh, yeah, it's kind of weird." I explained to the pastor's daughter as Pastor Ryan came up and smiled, welcoming me back. "My mom and I had a disagreement last night and it got out of hand and I left."

"You... Are you running away, Percy?" Ryan asked me, concerned.

"What? No, of course not." I insisted, clarifying that. "I stayed with one of my dad's friends last night, my dad is making room at his place. It's still in the city. I'll still be here, I promise."

"Oh, good." He said. "I mean, it's not good that you had to leave. But that you have a place to stay. Could I talk to you after service, too?"

"Yeah, definitely!"

You could see the scars, I had a short sleeve shirt on.

It wouldn't be the first time we've had that conversation. But probably the first time willingly.

"Alright." Pastor Ryan said and turned his attention to Nico, who was standing next to me, kind of nervous and he looked like a little boy going to school for the first time ever. It was cute. "And who is this? I don't believe we've met before. I'm Pastor Ryan."

"Oh, yeah, sorry." I apologized, forgetting I didn't introduce himself. "This is Nico. Nico di Angelo. Nico, this is Pastor Ryan, the chill one I told you about, and his daughter, Kelly."

They traded saying hi and it went well.

After service, I wandered over to Pastor Ryan's office, and knocked on the door. He was in there, writing something down. Nico's name, maybe? He actually seemed interested. Which was cool. I wasn't expecting him to be.

"Percy! Good, you remembered." Pastor Ryan said, giving me a smile. "Please, sit. It's been so long."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Stuff was scary for a while with my dad's side, but I'm back."

"I'm glad." He said, which I expected. I've always gotten along with Pastor Ryan. He's cool. "How have you been? Paul seemed worried this morning, moreso than normal when stuff comes up."

"Um... I don't know." I started off, shrugging. "it's been really weird. I was gone for a while and I got back in August and then I had a few episodes and things were bad, I couldn't really go home because I couldn't be alone and yeah. I got a little better, went home for a little bit. Like a week. Went on a date, that was fun. Peter woke up while I was there, which was cool and I got to spend the day with him before our parents got home and Penelope came home that day and it was nice. Until like, Mom realized I had serious about the whole dating thing. And she freaked out and that was last night, so... We're back to weird and yeah. Bad, but better."

"Your mom freaked out because you started dating someone?" He asked me and I nodded my head. "Did she know I'm advance?"

"Yeah!" I insisted. "Well, no the first time we hung out wasn't a date. But she knew because I asked her how she had asked out and she asked me why I was wondering I told her I was going to ask someone out, I'd just never done it before. She knew who it was, too. It wasn't until later that she freaked out over it."

For a second Pastor Ryan thought. He knows my mom and that she's asked about gay people. When Kelly came out, she wasn't as fond to Kelly. She felt bad for Pastor Ryan.

"If you don't mind me asking," Pastor Ryan did decide to ask, which I was glad. I mean, were out, were official. He just felt weird walking into a church holding hands, which is understandable. That's for another sort of day. "Who are you dating?"

"Nico," I answered his question. "The person I brought with today. I've known him for a while, he dad works a lot, doesn't have a schedule for church, so he hasn't done in a long time. Since he was little. Doesn't remember what branch. But Mom freaked out because he was a hug and he wasn't LDS and I'm supposed to marry and lady and then she mad that I won't break up with him because of traditions that our church doesn't follow and she got mad."

"Mad?"

"Mad." I repeated, holding my wrist, trying not to scratch. It's hard. Really hard. "She uh, told me that the whole reason her dad died was because he was bi, which it wasn't. It was a plane crash. And then she argued it because Gabe was accepting and that was all he accepted was the non-traditional things. And I tried being rational and she just got more frustrated and then she told me she didn't want me and I freaked out when she left my room but I didn't really do anything rash. I mean, I texted Nico what happened, looking for like help to calm down, and then I called my dad and he told.me to try and get out of there by today."

"Okay."

"So Nico came over, up through the fire escape." I went on. "Mom was too busy arguing with Paul to notice. But she came back in later and Nico hid in the closet, mainly because I told him to when I heard her and she yelled at me some more. She told me I was freak and grabbed me by my shirt and then she slapped me for being dumb and she didn't want me to apologize, because I did and she put me against the closet he was in and I didn't know what to do so I didn't so anything and she like kicked my ribs and there's a bruise on my back, I hit the knob on the closet door. So yeah. She told me she didn't want me so I said okay and I got really bad, but just for a little bit. Nico came back out and we left, went back to his place. And yeah. I enjoyed service, though, without my mom stressing me out."

"Well I'm glad you enjoyed service." Pastor Ryan said, trying to stay positive. "But this is serious, Percy. You know that, right?"

I nodded my head.

"That's why I called my dad."

"Okay, good." He remarked and sighed. "Well I'm glad you told me about this. I noticed a cut on your arm earlier and I was concerned. Have you been cutting a lot?"

I shook my head.

"Just once. This morning."

"Okay, just remember. Markers." Pastor Ryan told me, reminding me of his tip that instead of using a blade, use a marker and then it won't actually hurt me. Just some ink. "Does Nico help? Or, I should ask if he is of help. He seems like it, but you never know."

"Definitely!" I insisted, nodding my head and kind of smiling. Like a dumb half smile. "Yeah, he was the one who like bandaged me up this morning when he got back from breakfast. He also brought me food because I slept through breakfast. So he helps me."

"And as long as he keeps doing so, that's all that matters." Pastor finished off. "But I do have a meeting in a few minute, I'm sorry. We can definitely talk later, though!"

"Yeah!" I said, liking that idea more than I expected. "That works. I just wanted that off my chest."

"Of course." He repsonded as I stood up. "Have a nice day, Percy."

"You, too, Pastor Ryan."

I walked out to my boyfriend waiting on a chair, looking excited. We were going out for lunch. It'd be fun.

hearing the footsteps, he looked up and I liked how he smiled when he saw it had been me. It made me want to smile.

"Hey," Nico said, taking my hand as we walked out of the LDS Church. "How'd it go?"

"Good," I assured him, giving him a good enough smile. "He was wondering about the cuts on my arm. I was honest. I vent to him a lot when this sort of thing like when I get really depressed happens. Told him about the whole thing with my mom and also, I think he likes you. He doesn't disapprove of us, I know that much."

"Yeah, I talked with him for a little bit right after service!" Nico exclaimed and squeezed my hand. "He asked how I felt about it, saying that he'd understand if it wasn't for me. He admired that I tried something new. But I told him I thought it was interesting, I'd probably come back. I don't know how much I believe, but some of it seems legit."

He chuckled and I smiled.

"I'm glad." I said, giving him a kiss on the temple as we got to the car. "I mean, the point wasn't to convert you, but i wouldn't be sad if you did."

He smiled and rolled his eyes before going to the passenger side.

And then my phone started to go off.

The studio.