Percico: Half Blood Night Club (BoyXBoy)

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Percy waited, leaning against the club's dirty wall like he was a 'human' waiting to get into the club. He was the only one there, the sun's muddied rays hardly reaching him past the ominous veil of grey clouds. To anyone who passed him, he looked like a gothic, emo dude getting a good spot in line. With his hair grown out in waves around his shoulders, his skin so pail that it reminded him of Nico's when he was younger, and the bags under his eyes, it wasn't a bad guess. Didn't help that he was also wearing a black leather trench coat Nico had gotten him for his twentieth birthday, a pair of horribly worn out dark jeans, and a band teeshirt for the "Seaside Killers" on his thinning frame. But it kept people away, and he didn't mind that one bit.

A clap of thunder rang through the streets, the storm announcing its presence, but no rain had fallen yet. 'Lucky me.' Percy thought. He was prepared to wait in the rain if he had to, but he wasn't exactly ready for a second shower yet. Carefully pulling back his sleeve, he checked the time. 1:50 pm. 'Nico will probably be here soon.'

He had been there for two hours, the peacefulness of the motel room becoming defiled with the stolen memories he was slowly uncovering. So, for the last two hours, he stayed standing outside the night club like a soldier guarding a prisoner that lay just inside those walls. He kept his oceanic eyes trained on the people that passed by, trying to not be disappointed when he didn't see Nico amongst the crowd. At one point though he saw a kid pointing say "Dude, who's the freaky Dresden Files wannabe?" Stupid 'YOLO SWAG' wannabe gangster preteen. 'Probably doesn't even know that the Dresden Files are.'

Now, the streets were empty. Just him, the storm, and the trash that people littered the streets with. He sighed and checked his watch again. 1:55 PM. He sighed, pulling out a cigaret from his pocket and lighting it up. Taking a deep drag, he let the burning sensation drown out his dying hopes that Nico would come. He looked up at the sky and blew out the bitter smoke, watching as the cloud blew away as the rain began to pour down on him.

"Perfect." Percy said, the rain running off his cloths like they were duck feathers. "Just fucking perfect." He took another drag, closing his eyes to keep the sorrow from showing.

"That's a horrible habit to get into, you know." Percy recognized the voice immediately, a smile playing on the corners of his lips. Opening his eyes, he let his sea-colored eyes wander over and land on the familiar face he hadn't seen in months.

Nico stood a good two feet away from him, a sea blue umbrella covering him from the rain as he glared at the Son of Poseidon with those dark chocolate eyes. It was like he had never changed, still just a little shorter than Percy, still had that old brown leather bomber jack with the white fur around the collar, still had a mess of black hair that he hated short. The only thing that had changed was he was tanner, not sickly like he used to look.

"Yeah," Percy said, shrugging as he took another drag of the cancer stick. " but it helps." He blew out smoke rings out in front of him, though they were pierced and deformed by the daggers of the rain. "At least I'm not doing meth or some shit like that."

Nico kept staring at him, making Percy feel like he was a animal in the zoo. Only instead of amazement on his face, there was pity. Something Percy hated more than not knowing anything.

Nico absorbed in every detail of his friend, from his pasty skin, to his sleep deprived eyes. His heart ached as he absorbed the sight in front of him. What had happened to the Percy Jackson he loved? This was an imposter, had to have been. Percy would never fall so far from where he began. He would never have let his body, his fine tuned weapon, wither into this shell. He wouldn't let the love drop from his eyes, making them cold as the Arctic Ocean in the winter. He got annoyed when Percy took his eyes off him and took another drag of his almost dead cigaret.

"Percy." Nico spat the name in an acidly tone that Percy used to despise.

"Yes?" Percy said lazily, glancing at him out of the corner of his eye. He didn't seem to care, which angered Nico more.

"Why am I-"

"You got this really bad headache." Percy interrupted, flicking his cigaret to the ground and watching it fizz out of life in a rain puddle. "And no matter how long the meds are suppose to work, they always fail halfway, and you feel like a bullet to the head hurts less than this."

Nico stared at Percy, his glare disappearing like the rain running off his umbrella was washing away his anger. But what replaced it was more of a knife in Percy's heart than anger. It was fear.

"How do you know-"

"That's how it started with me." Percy said lazily, pushing himself off the wall and standing strait on his own too feet. He looked like the Ferryman to the Underworld, maybe on Casual Friday. "First, the headaches, then the feeling like something is missing." He walked over and loomed over Nico, his feature contorted like he was in pain. "And finally... there are dreams. For me their were mostly comprised of nightmares... But maybe you'll be lucky and only have the sweetest dreams."

There was a long silence as the rain beat down on their heads, the only voice was the loud BOOM of thunder that's intense echo flooded the streets like tidal waves. Percy's eyes were locked with Nico's, and Nico knew Percy was telling the truth. He just didn't want to believe it.

"Why are we here, Percy?" Nico finally said, his voice a little shaky.

Percy looked at the door. "I remembered this place, the place were Grover took me a few days before school started." His eyes became sad, and he looked away, turning his back on Nico. "They did something to us, Nico. They made us forget."

"Forget what?" Nico said, backing away from Percy slowly. This wasn't the Percy he remembered. This was someone completely different.

"Us." Percy said sadly, as a bolt of lightning lit the sky, illuminating a tear that was falling down his face. "What we were. That I-I...." Percy turned back to Nico, seeing how far he had backed away and trying not to let the sob catch in his throat. "That I love you."

Nico stopped dead, his eyes widening in shock. "W-Wha-"

"You heard me, Nico Di Angelo." Percy said, his features darkening. "But they made me forget, they took those feelings away from me." He spat on the ground, the rage that had been building in him beginning to rear its ugly head. "I was forced to think I liked Annabeth! You were right next to me the whole time, and I thought it was because of her that I felt like I could fly!" He took out the pen from his pocked, uncapping it and revealing Riptide. "But I'll make them pay."

Nico dropped his umbrella, the rain beating down on him now with full force, the pain from his headache drowned out by the fear Percy was going to murder him. "Percy, calm down. Please, just try and explain this to me."

"You think I'm crazy." Percy glared at him, any trace of the old Percy Nico had known was warped and twisted into a monster. "You think I'm lying!"

"No!" Nico screamed over the thunder, the wind trying to steal his words, but he wouldn't let them. "Percy, just calm down!"

"Listen to your lover, Perseus Jackson." A voice called from behind them, sounding as smooth as the softest woven silk and as concerned as a mother. Whirling around, ready for combat, Percy looked oceanic blue eye to bright amber eye. Nico stared up at the speaker, and gasped.

Luna stood in the doorway of the club, dressed in a royal blue Japanese Kimono with a golden dragon embroidered into the length and a black sash tied around her waist. Her brown hair was tied up in the traditional style, but she did not wear any makeup, and in her hands was a towel and a spare change of clothing. "You... I know you!" Nico hollered over the wind.

She smiled a little, a sad, sweet smile. "I know you do, Mr. Di Angelo." She said kindly. "And I know that there has been a wrongdoing."

Percy glared up at her. "And how do we know you were not the one who caused it?" All she did was step further into the darkness of the doorway, a inviting smile on her face.

"Come on in, and find out."