wowzers this chapter jumps straight in so be prepared :)

.:NICO:.

She's hesitant at first but eventually spits the words out. "What's between you and William?"

My head snaps up to meet her hard eyes staring down on me. Her brows were furrowed as if I was puzzle she couldn't figure out.

I glance back down at my feet and continue sweeping, trying to hide my surprise at her question. "What you mean...?" I ask her lightly, feeling my heartbeat pound on overdrive against my chest. She couldn't have figured it out... I thought I hid everything so well. What if...what if he told her? My hands tightened around the broom handle in fear.

"I mean, he seems to be very interested in you. He's always shooting looks at you when you aren't looking."

"Right...." I already knew that much. He hated my guts, of course he was going to glare at me. He was probably mad he hasn't been able to get to me in so long.

"You do as well," she says.

"What?" I whisper.

"You look at him when he isn't looking."

I quickly scoff, "And why would I do that? I hate him and he hates-" I stop myself. Annabeth was far too clever to not put some of the pieces together if I gave her that much information. I look down at my hands in embarrassment.

"Why? He seems to care about you a lot. I've been told he frequently ask questions about you."

I was afraid I might snap the broom in half if she continued to question me. Annabeth seemed to notice my tenseness as well. "I just do, okay?! Don't butt into my life. It isn't yours to control so stop acting like it."

Her face darkens. "I was just trying to help-"

"Well, you aren't."

"He's hurting, Nico! Maybe you can't see that over your own ignorance, but he needs someone to talk too!"

"You do that then! That isn't my job to make other people happy! He should have thought of that before becoming a fucking dick!" I yell, losing my temper "And you have no right to call me ignorant! I am not the bad guy here."

"Will is not a bad person," She fumes, "He cares about you-" I snort "-and you care about him. Why can't you see that?"

"'Will isn't a bad person' my ass. So who are going to believe? A guy you've known for, what? A month? Or someone you've known for five years?"

"Well, right now, Will! He hasn't done anything wrong to deserve this hate! Nico, what in Tartarus is going on with you!"

I feel the back of my eyes burn. "No, fuck you. I don't deserve this. Get the hell out of my face. You have no. right. To talk about things you don't understand."

She yelled something I couldn't understand through the buzz in my head before turning on her heal and leaving the way she came.

My hands were shaking now as I fell to the grimy floor. An invisible hand clasps over my mouth. Adrenaline pierces my heart, unloading in an instant. I feel my ribs heaving as if bound by ropes, straining to inflate my lungs. My head is a carousel of fears spinning out of control, each one pushing my mind into blackness.

Everyone hates me.

The thoughts were accelerating inside my head. I want them to slow so I can breathe but they wouldn't. Suddenly, my body wracked with raw sobs and I shook like a leaf. Fright consumed every cell in my body, swelling them with terror. With every second I practically felt the rise of my blood pressure.

She thought I was the bad guy and Will was the victim. He really did have everyone twisted around his little finger. I already had the proof I needed that she, and probably everyone else as well, hated me. Even if I did tell her the truth now, she would think I'm lying. Will knew that.

Why can't I ever win? Will had somehow pushed me out of my only home. That broke me down emotionally because at school, at least I knew I had someplace I could run away afterward. The physical abuse would be ten times better than the crushing weight that put on my chest.

Everyone hates me...

~~~

.:WILL:.

It had been a half a week since Hestia visited me beside the fire and Nico hasn't been coming to school for his suspension. The worst part being somehow the news of my mother's death had somehow got out to the school. I had to go to the bathroom nearly every period to stop myself from breaking down in the middle of class from all the sorry stares.

The only good part of the week was that I had finally got rid of Izzah. He had something particularly nasty about Nico and without thinking I had punched him directly in the nose. I still don't know why I did it, but it had felt so good to get it off my chest. He was so pissed, he was refusing to talk to me, which, was perfectly fine on my part.

I was sitting in the back of the class as Dr. Irie, the geometry teacher, was discussing some formula on the whiteboard. Usually, this was a class I shared with Nico. It wasn't until he was gone that I noticed how often my head glanced over at his direction. In other words, the class was boring and I was itching for the day to be over.

"Quite!" The teacher suddenly yelled over the commotion of the class in his thick, Japanese accent he always carried. "This project should be in pairs of two. If I'm told of you slacking off I won't hesitate to write you up," he glares at the two giggling girls in front of me. "This shouldn't take more than one or to days at the most. Just draw a cartoon or a comic that represents the equation on the board."

Immediately, the class stands up to find their friends and such. The teacher yells loudly once again. "With your table partner! It's the same way every time, why would it be different now?" The students whine in protest as they sit back down and start opening the packets he was handing out.

When he gets to my desk he sighs asks me where Izzah is. I shrug and answer truthfully. "No clue."

He rubs his forehead but hands me the packet anyway. "Go work with Mr. Palace. His partner is out as well. He'll be back tomorrow so you'll have to include him then."

I nod despite the bile rising in my throat. I quickly grab the papers out of his hand and walk with my head down to the other side of the classroom. Palace was Nico's partner. I would be working with Nico. I would be sitting in his seat.

A hand suddenly is thrown out in front of me. "Cedric Palace," they say, "You're Will, right?"

I trail my glance up from the outstretched hand up to the smiling boy in front of me. He had a curly mess of brown hair and a very pointed nose. It would have been awkward on his face if it wasn't for his sharp jawline and pointed ears that I thought were quite attractive. When our eyes met though, it disturbed the image. They were bright purple.

The color of his had something I had never seen before. They are so mesmerizing that it is as if they looked deep into my soul. I could not take my eyes off of them.

"Hello?" He asked, waving a hand in front of my face.

"Yeah? Oh- yeah sorry. Wasn't paying attention..."

"It's fine. Most people are startled by the eyes as well."

"Oh."

"It's called Alexandria's genesis. Had it since I was born I guess." He shrugs. "Anyways, sit down. We need to work."

I was wary about sitting where Nico usually did, but he grabbed the crook of my arm and pulled me down to the seat next to him. His head tilts back in laughter at my reaction causing my stomach to fill with small butterflies.

A couple of minutes later we were both in deep conversation about the project. He was explaining the ideas he had while I tried to follow him. I didn't understand a thing he was saying and I think he was starting to understand that because he threw down his pencil in defeat.

"Well, can you draw? I can't do much but draw a stickman."

I shrug, "I used too. I've never done a comic though."

"Really? Can you show me some? I'll do everything else if you can do the art part."

I nodded before realizing I left my sketch pad on my bunk. Instead, I flipped out packet over and proceed to scribble something down. I hadn't noticed how focused I had become on it until Cedric tapped on my shoulder.

"Holy crap, is that Nico?"

I took a minute to assess my drawing. A raven-haired boy was wearing an oversized jacket and a skull shirt underneath. The oddity of it was that the boy was smiling. I never really knew who I was drawing until I was finished. It was usually whatever was on my mind most recently.

He whistled under his breath. "You like him, don't you?"

My head whipped in his direction faster than I thought was humanly possible. "What?"

"I see you stare at him during class. I sit right next to him, your staring is a little obvious."

I snap my math book shut and glare at him. "I'm not gay."

His eyes widen. "I didn't mean to offend you. I just thought..."

"Thought what?" My eyes harden, "I'm not a...fag." The words stung coming out of my mouth.

Cedric took a step back and his face shaped with hurt and anger. "You're allowed to have opinions but you don't have to be an asshole about them!" He whisper yells, "What if I told you I was gay, huh? How would you feel?"

My face dropped. "What?"

He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I'm gay, what are you going to do about it?"

I unclenched my hand that I hadn't noticed was balled up and looked down at my lap in shame. He smiled triumphantly. "Exactly. The polite thing to say would have been to say "'I'm sorry, but this is obviously a personal subject to me and would rather not talk about it.'"

"Sorry, I just didn't expect you to be gay," I mutter embarrassed, "or anyone from this school for that matter."

"Doesn't matter, you just help promote the hate that way. Anyways, class is almost over and we haven't started the project at all. I'll tell you what to do and you just draw it, okay?" I nod, too shocked and embarrassed to say anything else. We sit in the awkward silence for the last couple of minutes of class and so let his words to wash over me.

~~~

The bell had finally rung for the end of the school day. I saw sitting outside on the benches humming the lyrics to Riptide with my headphones in and waiting for Argus to pick me up. I quickly checked the time on my watch to see he was twenty minutes late than usual. I shrugged it off, assuming he had got pulled over by the police again for having no ID.

It would be a fantastic time to get ahead on homework while I still could but my mind decided against it. It was too absorbed with the conversation from this afternoon and, of course, Hestia's warning. It frustrated me beyond belief. She told that I 'needed proper knowledge of my power' but at the same time never told me what it was. Zeus strike me down for thinking this, but that was stupid.. 'Redeeming my wrongs' meant a hell of a lot for someone like me.

A finger lightly taps me on the shoulder causing me to leave my thoughts. I turn around to be surprised by a small raven-haired boy standing in front of me with overly size jacket and a hood over his face. I didn't have to see his face to know it was Nico. It looked as if he was finally off his crutches.

"Chiron told me to pick you up." He was twiddling with the end of his sleeves as he talked. Despite the calmness in his voice, it was clear through the boy's body language that he was scared. My heart clenched just like it always did around him.

I simply nodded for the reason that I didn't want to make the situation any more hostile for both of us. He was probably thinking I was about to beat the shit out of him as soon as we got out of sight.

'Orrrr....you could apologize?' The voice in my head spoke, 'It would be the perfect time too. Don't be a damn coward. This isn't about you and never was.'

I swing my bag over my shoulder and make a quick decision to show my hands in my jean pockets. Perhaps that would make Nico feel the slightest bit safer. And If it did, he didn't show it.

I followed right behind him as he led the way towards a private spot to travel. I already had one of my siblings explain to me that it wasn't teleportation as I had previously thought but shadow traveling. They also mentioned how physically exhausting it was and it sure didn't look like Nico needed any more of that.

I took a deep breath and looked around. No one was close enough to hear our conversation by now. There was nothing physically stopping me either.

I opened my mouth to spit out the words that I've been holding in for long. "Nico, I-"

He suddenly stopped in front of me. Our bodies crashed roughly into each other and I muttered an anxious sorry that I didn't think he heard.

"This is good enough."

We were down the road from the school and hidden behind some abandoned building. I briefly wondered why he hadn't taken us to the woods before realizing he didn't know I knew it existed. He was probably keeping it to himself.

"Just...don't let go and you'll be fine." He grabs ahold of my left wrist with a delicate touch. I had to control the urge to pull back from the sudden temperature difference.

Before I was able to get used to the feeling inside of my stomach, a swirl of darkness surrounded the both of us. 

Happy Pride month y'all :)

Anyways, some spicy stuff, eh? You got Annabeth of Will's side and finally get to know the purple-eyed guy. How do you feel about him??? BTW the pic on top is Cedric. At first I was going to name his Benjamin but  I had to stuff some of my HP fangirl in this story ;)

Goodbye children.