Daddy Issues

Lighthouse

Nico's POV) 

He spent all of yesterday talking with teachers and getting everything set up. From what I heard from his mom, she really had to fight to get them to let him off. In the end, they decided on two weeks where he didn't have to physically go to school, but his teachers would still send him classwork. They swore to go easy on him though, and I agreed to deliver it, and help him out too, if need be. It was the least I could do for him when he's done so much for me, and in such intense, familiar pain. 

Today was Friday, and I was walking to his place from school with my sister, her boyfriend, Leo, Jason, Piper, and Annabeth. The last two weren't shy at all about their newfound love for each other, and Jason, Leo, and Frank weren't phased by it. 

Hazel, though... She looked visibly uncomfortable. And that put me on edge. It made me wonder if she was a safe person to come out to. Just as I was starting to put my full trust in her... 

Though, it wasn't fair to assume anything about her when it also kinda squicked me out to see. But like, I had a good reason to be uncomfortable with it, I knew the full story. So I can confidently say that it wasn't seeing a woman in love with another woman tat made me uncomfortable. It was knowing that she fucked Percy over, and in such a major way that he had to start going to therapy, that was what rubbed me the wrong way. That made me angry. So angry I wanted to yank that curly blonde ponytail right off of her head. 

Eventually, I couldn't stand it anymore. "You know she cheated on him right?" 

Everyone stopped. Annabeth's face was unusually pale, and everyone was staring at her. "Jeepers..." Hazel put her hand on her chest. "Annabeth, is that true?" 

"No..." Leo refused. "She'd never! Dude, what the hell are you thinking, spreading a rumor like that?" 

Luckily, Hazel defended me. "He wouldn't say something like that if he didn't think it was true!" 

"Nico, where did you hear that from?" Jason asked me. 

I bit my lip. "Percy told me. He told me everything. So are you gonna cheat on Piper too?" 

Piper scoffed. "Oh please, it was with me!" 

"What!?" Jason finally lost his cool. "Pipes, how could you go after someone that was taken?" 

"You keep her out of this." Annabeth stepped in front of her new squeeze. "Let me set the record straight. I did. We were in the dressing room, we got down to our underwear, and we made out a little bit. So what?" 

"So what?" Hazel asked. "You cheated on him!" 

"Yeah, Hazel. I did." 

"And you don't feel bad?" 

"Well of course I feel bad, that's why I didn't tell him about it right away! But I already apologized, there's nothing more I can do. So let's just put this all behind us, ok?" 

My hands clenched into fists. "I don't know about everyone else, but I don't tend to just put things behind me." 

Frank, who up until this point had been watching the conflict play out in shock, put a hand on my shoulder. "Nico, maybe she's right. She did a bad thing, and she tried to make amends for it. Maybe a little forgiveness is in order." 

I shrugged his hand off. "No, she needs to be held accountable. And since nobody else is willing to do it-" 

"Don't you dare." Piper stood in front of her girlfriend. 

I stopped. "... What?" I looked down at my hands. "Did you... Did you think I was gonna hit her?" I looked around at my friends. "Nobody else actually thought that, right?"