Death and Madness 2

Nico di Angelo is a dick

Mrs. O'Leary saw us before we saw her, which was a pretty good trick considering she's the size of a garbage truck. I walked into the arena, and a wall of darkness slammed into me

"WOOF!"

The next thing I knew I was flat on the ground, squished alongside Percy with a huge paw on my chest and an oversize Brillo-pad tongue licking my face.

"Ow!" Percy said. "Hey, girl. Good to see you too. Ow!"

It took a few minutes for Mrs. OLeary to calm down and get off us. By then I was pretty much drenched in dog drool. She wanted to play fetch, so Percy and I took turns tossing a bronze shield across the arena.

By the way, Mrs. O'Leary is the worlds only friendly hellhound. Percy kind of inherited her when her previous owner died. She lived at camp, but Beckendorf . . . well, Beckendorf used to take care of her whenever Percy was gone. He had smelted Mrs. O'Leary's favourite bronze chewing bone. He'd forged her collar with the little smiley face and a crossbones name tag. Next to Percy, Beckendorf had been her best friend.

Thinking about that made me sad all over again, but we threw the shield a few more times because Mrs. O'Leary insisted.

Soon she started barking—a sound slightly louder than an artillery gun—like she needed to go for a walk. The other campers didn't think it was funny when she went to the bathroom in the arena. It had caused more than one unfortunate slip-and-slide accident. So Percy opened the gates of the arena, and she bounded straight toward the woods.

 Percy and I jogged after her, not too concerned that she was getting ahead. Nothing in the woods could threaten Mrs. O'Leary. Even the dragons and giant scorpions ran away when she came close.

In the meanwhile we chatted casually. 

"I- Violet, can I tell you something?"

"Of course Percy, you know I won't judge you" I smiled at him, "Unless it's something really stupid"

Percy chuckled, but his face was serious. "Last year you mentioned the LGBTQ+ community and I... I researched a little and..."

"...and...?"

"I think I might be Bi"

I don't think he expected me to squeal. 

"Umm..."

"THAT'S SO COOL MAN! I TOTALLY SUPPORT YOU!" I launched myself at him not even reacting when pain shot me. "I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! NOW I HAVE SOME ONE ELSE TO TALK ABOUT BOTH HOT GUYS AND GIRLS"

"Can you please stop yelling?" Percy acted stern but he was laughing, he looked relieved too as I helped him up and apologised, but he was cool with it. 

"But seriously Perce, I'm glad you found that out about yourself."

"Thank you Violet, it means a lot" He hugged me, I had noticed that between Annabeth and Percy, he was the more physically affectionate one. "And you better be standing next to me when I come out to everyone"

"You bet your aquatic ass, Jackson"

Chuckling and racing each other, we ran further into the woods.

When we finally managed to tracked Mrs O'Leary down, she wasn't using the facilities. She was in a familiar clearing where the Council of Cloven Elders had once put Grover on trial. The place didn't look so good. The grass had turned yellow. The three topiary thrones had lost all their leaves. But that's not what surprised me. In the middle of the glade stood the weirdest trio Id ever seen: Juniper the tree nymph, Nico di Angelo, and a very old, very fat satyr.

I froze in my place, and unfortunately Percy didn't seem to notice the change in me. He walked ahead and greeted the tree nymph with enthusiasm totally obvious to the staring contest between Nico and me. 

Nico looked a lot different from when I had seen him months ago. He was a taller, his hair had grown out a bit so it hung in his eyes, his skin was even paler (if that was even possible) and worst of all, I felt a flutter in my stomach. 

Stupid teenage hormones. 

He did look a lot better, I had to admit. His aviator's jcket and day of the dead t-shirt didn't seem to hang on him so loose, instead it was more like he had grown into it. He also didn't look all that skinny, just exhausted. 

But it was impossible to forget our yelling match that had happened the last time we met and so I was back to being angry at him. 

I furrowed my brows, and glared at him the best I could. Just because he felt insecure in his own sexuality was no reason to actively be transphobic. 

Now, I won't lie. I did look into Nico's mind a couple of times. And what  found out... well it was shocking. 

The scene had gone something like this...

"Why would you look into my mind without telling me?" Nico was crying, I had never seen him cry before. His entire face kind of flushed red and his tears made me feel so many things- guilt mostly, but also sadness because he didn't deserve to hate himself. 

I just wanted to tell him that it was okay to be... that way.

And instead it turned into a whole argument. 

"Nico I- I just wanted-"

"Exactly- you wanted. I never wanted for you to find out! I never wanted these- these feelings- I NEVER WANTED TO BE A FREAK"

Nico was unlike anything before, I could feel his emotions washing over me. He was disgusted with himself, and mad- at everything, he was digging up old things at the back of his mind, and somewhere... a little part of me could feel that he was thinking about his sister. 

"OH BOO HOO" I was quick to be on my feet, we were in a jungle, the gods know where... miles away from any other person, "You hate yourself!" I snapped, "I get it, don't you think I get it? I thought I was a freak for years. But this is the twenty first century for fuck's sake! It's okay to be gay"

"It's an abomination" His voice was emotionless, he wasn't even looking at me anymore, just at his feet. 

"Then am I a monster?"

"Violet no I-"

"No, tell me Nico. How fucking pathetic and gross I am just because I like girls, guys and everything in between. TELL ME HOW I'M A FREAK JUST BECAUSE I DON'T- I DON'T FEEL LIKE A WOMAN OR A MAN"

Nico was clutching his ears now, he sat down in the middle of my yelling rant. And a little part of me felt sorry for him, and guilty since I was technically the reason for this argument, but all sympathetic feelings vanished once he finally did open his mouth. 

"You are a freak"

I couldn't believe he said that at first. I didn't want to believe that he did. I was too stunned to speak. Then reality washed over me. 

I could feel my heartbeat getting faster,

I could feel the impending sense of doom. 

I couldn't show myself be weak in front of him. 

"fine. SUCK MY DICK YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE" I grabbed my backpack, tears were streaming down both our faces now. But this was Nico, come on.. this was Nico. He wouldn't- Maybe... No. He said that. And he didn't even have the decency to apologise. If that's what he really thought of me, I shouldn't be travelling with him. "And don't try to  look for me"

"Who would want you anyways?"

Too fucking far. 

All my life there have been people who didn't want me. Luke left me, my mom never loved me, my dad left me with my mom, I never had a friend for more than a few months. But I never expected this from Nico. 

I lost it. 

I could vaguely recall the crunch as my fist made contact with his cheek. The first thing I noticed was his shocked expression and then the pain hit. It felt like my knuckles were on fire. But I acted like I didn't care. 

I grabbed my bag and teleported to the first place I could think of- Camp Half blood.