Trust Me (a Percico Fanfic; Sequel to Letters to Nico)

Chapter 27

NICO'S POV (it's been awhile since this happened)

Alive, Nico decided, was quite an odd word.

Alive; mainly used to describe the act of living or not being dead. Nico, however, saw the word "alive" in a different light entirely.

To truly be alive meant to fly, to touch the skies and run fingers through clouds. When he was alive, he knew that nothing could touch him, nothing could stop him. When he was alive, he was infinite.

There is a difference between living and being alive. Living is walking the borderline between being alive and being dead, and being alive is flying so high up that you can no longer see nor worry about a borderline.

The cold, dark presence that had been forced upon his shoulders had been set free, and Nico was no longer living, no, he was alive.

So, as Nico di Angelo ran alongside Percy Jackson (aka man of his dreams and total hottie), he decided that living had transformed him. Before, he was a caterpillar that was throwing his dreams away; now, he was a butterfly with wings made of hope and a heart made of dreams.

He wasn't going to give up, he wasn't going to let go. He'd made it this far, he'd make it further still.

Nico smiled a bit to himself, allowing the small upturn of his lips to perform happiness beyond just his face. For the first time in a year, Nico was smiling genuinely. Oh, it has been a battle, but in the end he was winning. Maybe he wasn't quite victorious yet, but oh god he felt glorious. He knew that as long as he had Percy, it would be okay.

Percy. The raven-haired boy running alongside him was even more stunning than he remembered. Sure, he physically looked the same, but there was something about the way Nico saw him before the arguments and after they happened. Before, Nico had seen an extremely hot demigod with the most stunning pair of green eyes in existence and a funny and sweet personality, but now Percy was different in Nico's eyes.

Nico could see the loyalty radiating from Percy; it swirled up into a fierce iridescent purple cloud full of truth and determination. He could see the little things now, like his love for Zoe and his pain that he'd dealt with and his hope and his love and his unwavering trust in Nico and- oh, Percy was so much more brilliant than Nico could put into words. Percy made his world feel real again.

"Hey, Percy?" Nico said, gasping for breath as they ran. Wind whipped through the younger boy's long, messy hair, causing loose strands of it to fall into his face. Percy noticed this and brushed it away from Nico's chocolate eyes.

"Yeah?" Percy huffed. Nico could even hear the determination in his love's voice. Every one of Percy's emotions was so imminent that Nico could practically taste and feel them. Something about losing Percy made Nico realize just how much he loved him, and now he felt a newer and brighter connection to the older boy.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry for everything. I didn't mean what I said, I was drunk and in pain and destroying myself and taking it out on you and Zoe and I'm just sorry. I promise, I really promise, that it won't happen again," Nico said quietly, tears filling up his warm eyes. Nico felt a warm weight against his hand, and then soft, comforting fingers were interlocking with his own cold, bony ones. All at once, Nico felt a wave of relief, almost like the weight of the world had been lifted off of his shoulders at last.

"Good, because if it does happen again, I'll just have to take you back to Demeter so she can turn you into corn again," Percy said with a snicker, ruffling Nico's hair. Nico grimaced; being corn had not been a fun experience, and it was certainly not a moment in time he wanted to relive. All the more reason to not screw up again and hurt Percy and Zoe.