The One That Got Away... (A Jasico fanfic)

Chapter 14

Nico pov
Was it just me, or was Percy staring at me? Every time I glanced at him, his green eyes were fixated on me, eyebrows furrowed and a frown messing up his featured. Annabeth, for all her wise-ness, hadn't figured out her boyfriend was watching me. I was pretty sure she was plotting how to create a new element or something, because she kept emerging from the Hecate, Hephaestus and Big Three cabins. She asked me, 'If the square area of a tri-dimensional transport was multiplied by the ratio of the perimeter, how much mass could the transport carry?'

Was I supposed to know what that meant? The only word I caught was 'tri-dimensional portal', so the first question I asked was, "You want to travel between dimensions?' Her response was a simple frown and, 'Never mind'.

"Nico?" Frank poked his head inside the Hades cabin and did a double take. "I thought they would've changed the decor by now," he said, dropping into the chair beside my bed. He was pale, his hands twisting themselves in knots.

"Um... well... I... You... maybe... If I..." he stuttered. I stared at him. I was used to him being a little nervous around me, but this was too much.

"Yes?" I asked, hoping I sounded gentle and encouraging. Pfffft, that never worked for me.

"Um... Since you're kind of Hazel's only family... I was kind of wondering... Can I have Hazel's hand in marriage?" he blurted out. I blinked then stood up abruptly.

"I... Is that a no?" he said, also standing up. I took the chance to grab him by the neck of his shirt and pin him against the wall.

"Nico! Dude, I'm sorry, I won't elope-"

"Oh, no, you can marry her," I growled at him. "But if you hurt my little sister in any way, you will not have much time to apologize." He nodded best he could.

"Good." I dropped him and dusted my hands. "I'll be the one to hand her off. Don't forget this," I said menacingly, then smiled. "You are one lucky guy," I told him, marching off to grab a jacket.

"Oh, I almost forgot." I turned to face Frank. "Hazel's ring size is 4 (I don't know ring sizes), she likes pale orange, she hates heart shaped anything, and she'd like something simple but elegant. And do make the proposal amazing. She deserves something special."

Frank's face was priceless.

Jason pov

"Hey, Nico!" I called over my shoulder as someone stomped into my room.

"I'm not Nico, Grace." Oh. Percy. I get to talk to the guy who broke my love's heart. How pleasant.

"Hey, Perce. What're you doin' here?" I asked, sorting through my clean and dirty clothes from Italy.

"I'm here to talk to you about Nico." Fantastic. "He seems... different. Good different, though. I... I want to keep him like that. I'm still guilty for hurting him, you know." I raised my eyebrows and chucked the Superman logo t-shirt into the dirty bin.

"It's been two years, Percy. He's healed." Percy frowned. "Then... why did he almost kill himself?" I turned around so fast I got whiplash. "Who told you that?" I asked sharply, grabbing the bed to steady myself. We (Nico, Callie, Leo and I) had agreed not to tell anyone about that specific topic. Nico really didn't need any more rumours circulating around camp, and I trusted Leo and Calypso not to tell.

"I have my sources," Percy said, trying and failing to be mysterious. I rolled my eyes and threw a pair of shoes at his head. "Tell me. Who told you?"

"I... well, Hazel saw the scars on Nico's arms, and she told Frank, who accidentally spilled to Piper, who told Annabeth, who gathered information on depression, cutting, self-harm, suicide, heartbreak and grief and told me..." he said without taking a breath.