Since We Met (Percy Jackson Fanfiction) AU

Ch. 11- Hear Me

-Imagine Dragons

June 3, 2011 (13 years old; 8th grade; Nico)

"Last day of school!" Nico heard before he got tackled to the ground.

He grunted and sat up. He saw his best friend smiling down at him. "Yes, I'm quite aware, Percy." Nico checked his pocket to be sure his phone was okay. There was a small crack on the upper left part of the screen. "And you owe me a new screen, jerk."

Nico stood and fixed his glasses to where they were as straight as they'd go now. Percy reached for them and analyzed them. "Why are they all sideways?"

Nico took them back nonchalantly while feeling a twist in his stomach. "They've been like that for a while. I just slept in them. Papa hasn't taken me to fix them."

The school bus whizzed past them, full of raucous kids. "Percy!" one of them called out the window. It was Luke. Percy waved back with a smile.

Nico scowled at the sight of the blond hair. "You okay?"

He blinked. "Fine." Percy frowned, but didn't question it further. Nico saw the usual group of kids Percy talked to walk toward him, and Annabeth walking serenely from another side. "I'll see you after school," he mumbled, slipping away quickly. He walked into the school and into the library.

Nico took a breath. It'd be the last time he would ever smell that library. The last time he'd be there for comfort. He nodded at the librarian and made his way to the back, where large windows led up to the ceiling, allowing the early morning light to filter in and give the books a wondrous look. Nico stared at the rays of sunlight streaming in for a moment, watching the small, barely distinguishable specks of who knew what floating around.

"Uh, excuse me." Nico jumped and turned. "Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you."

"Oh, no, I was just distracted. Sorry, am I in your way?" He moved aside for the stranger.

"No actually," he said with an easy smile. "I was actually looking for a book. The librarian said I could take it out over the summer, as long as I brought it back before school started." Nico waited, wondering how he had any part in this. "Oh! Well, she said you knew the library really well, so I was hoping you'd help me find the books." He smiled widely and handed Nico a paper with book numbers and titles scrawled in round, small cursive by the librarian.

"Oh, sure," Nico mumbled. He glanced up, a bit uneasy with the bright almost transparent reflection of the sun in the guy's eyes. Why did everyone have colored eyes? "Okay, this way." He started walking briskly and the guy behind him continued to smile and gaze around.

"This place is huge for a middle school library. How do you find your way so easily?"

Nico clenched his jaw. "I've come here every morning and every lunch for the past year and a half. Books are an escape; the library is a sanctuary." He blinked. Why had he told a total stranger that?

But the stranger smiled more. "That's a new way to look at it. I've never been able to quite understand the fascination people have with books, but your way makes sense."

Nico just gave a small, insincere smile. "Uh, here we go. That's one. Here's the other. And the last one is up there, but you'll have to get it. I'm a bit uh... vertically challenged."

The guy smiled and reached for the book. "Thanks. I would've been here all day if it wasn't for you."

Nico shrugged. "Don't mention it. So... you're into medicine?"

The guy nodded. "I want to save people. I just know that's my calling. Fixing people, helping them. A lot of people want to be a doctor just to have a high pay, but I'd work for free, as long as I was able to help anyone who needed it."