Daddy Issues

Reconciliation

Nico's POV) 

I showed up early to school Monday morning, and he did too. He seemed so happy, so bright. Back to his normal self for the most part. 

"Hey!" He sat next to me. "How ya doin?" 

I shrugged. "Alright, I guess. Had a bit of a weird dream. I was in this like, tacky casino arcade type thing, and it was fun at first, but then I couldn't get out, and I started panicking. I woke up before I could find out what the deal was." I'd become a lot more open, I noticed, ever since everything that happened a month ago. "How about you?" 

He blushed a little. "Um... Yeah." He cleared his throat. "Pretty weird. Not scary though, just... Anyway, I'm glad to be back. I feel a lot more calm now, I guess. Thanks, by the way. For... Helping me get through that." 

I shrugged. "Yeah, well... You're my friend." And that's all you'll ever want to be. "That's what you do when your friend is sad." 

"Yeah... Y'know, if you ever start having a hard time, you can ask the same of me. I'll be there." 

"I know... Thanks." It's not that I didn't believe him, but... I could never take him up on that offer. We can't both be broken, after all. One of us has to be ok. 

Mr. Blofis walked by, and saw us. "Oh, uh... Hey, Percy." 

Suddenly, it was like he flipped a switch in his brain. His smile faded, and he turned away from his teacher without saying a word. At least, for a bit. "I heard everything." 

The elder cringed. "Um... About that. Can I... Sit with you for a minute? I've been meaning to talk to you." 

He shrugged. Sure." 

He sat down next to Percy as I remained on his other side. "Hey... Look, about what happened two weeks ago... I'm sorry. I... First of all, I don't think you're weak. I never thought you were weak, I just... I've been in academia for a long time, and I know that a lot of us can be very... Callous and judgmental, especially when it comes to mental health, and I didn't want you subject to that judgement. I thought the best way to prevent that was to push you to resemble the model student as much as possible, but I was just perpetuating the exact thing I wanted to protect you from. And... I'm sorry. That really sucked of me. Your mother was right, I can't imagine the dark place you'd be in now if I had gotten my way." 

He smiled a little, but his expression soured into anxiety. "I... How do I know I can trust you?" 

Mr. Blofis winced. "Kid, I... I wish I knew what to say. Look, I get it, it's been just you and your mom for so long, and then I come into the picture, and now there's a baby on the way, and I left, but now I wanna come back, but I don't know if I should because maybe the both of you would be better off without me. But again, Estelle's coming, it would be wrong to leave a girl without her father. But... Y'know, if I'm screwing up this bad with you, maybe I'd do more harm than good with her. Maybe she was right. Maybe I'm still not ready. Maybe I never will be... And I've gotten off topic, and I'm sorry for that too, because this is supposed to be about your problems, not mine. My point is, I'm not the most informed person when it comes to, y'know... This sort of thing. But I know it can't be easy dealing with all of that at your age. Especially on top of everything else. So it's ok if you need time. I just hope you don't... Y'know, hate my guts. Not that I wouldn't understand, but I generally don't like it when people hate my guts. Especially if they're my students." 

Percy let out a long, exhausted sigh, before nodding a bit. "... Y'know what? I get it. Relationships are... Hard. And messy. And complicated." 

His face broke into a smile. "So... Does this mean...?"