Soldatino ~ A Nico Di Angelo Fanfiction

Nico Di Angelo had many secrets. One of which, was clostrophobia. His fear of small spaces began (understandably) when he was kidnapped. For days, weeks maybe - he wasn't paying attention to how long - he was held in a bronze jar, just big enough to curl up in a ball. After the whole "Percy and Annebeth rescue mission" thing, he knew that he felt uncomforable in tight spaces, but didn't figure out how severe his fear was until he used a gas-station bathroom. He almost blew up the whole side of the highway.

Of course, he kept his phobia a secret, never even uttering a word of it. What was he suppose to do? He didn't want to be babied by his friends, he didn't want their pity.

Another one of Nico's secrets: he had been abused.

After he and his sister Bianca had escaped the Lotus Casino, they had been put into foster-care. The first family was nice enough, the mother had smiled happily at the two children, the father patted their heads, and the three kids often played with their foster brother and sister. But all good things must come to an end, right?

The family had to move because of the father's job, and they couldn't afford to take the two with them. So, back into foster-care they went. The next couple of families were also very nice, but each one had given them back.

One day, a foul-smelling man walked into the agency. He had greacy and discusting hair as brown as mud, with a prickly beard. His eyes were miss-mached; one brown, one icy blue. His smile was twisted, as if he were planning something sinister.

That day, the creepy man brought the two siblings home. Everything was all smiles from the man until they had gotten in his car.

"Alright brats," he sneared, "shut up and buckle up." The two children did as told.

Nico was only eight the first time Chad hit him. All he had done was ask to change the channel on the T.V. He wanted to watch the Power Rangers show he had recently discovered.

Chad - the man with different colored eyes - had slapped him across the face and told him to shut up. When Bianca had yelled in Nico's diffence, Chad had hit her as well. After that day, the beatings grew long and more violent. Everytime they did something that Chad didn't like, everytime they didn't do what he told them, or sometimes just because he feels like it.

They had learned to do exactly as they were told. If Chad told them to buy him a bag of chips, they pick-pocketed the money (because Chad would never give them any) and bought a bag of chips. If Chad wanted them to go buy him a beer, one of them - usually Nico, because he was younger and cuter - would go up to the store clurck and distract him (or her) while the other would smuggle a six-pack of beer out of the store. If Chad told them to sleep outside, they slept outside. It was that simple.

They learned to fend for themselves. Chad never made dinner, so Bianca was often the one to do the cooking. They snuck out of the house many times, offering to mow the neighbors' lawns for money, in order to avoid pick-pocketing and stealing as much as possible.

Another secret; Nico still had the Hades figure from Mythomagic.

He had grown out of the stupid "Mythology" game years ago, and had gotten rid of all of his cards and figurines, yet he couldn't find it in himself to part from the little metal statue of his father. Bianca had given her life because she thought it would make him happy to have the game piece. How could he just through it away?

Not only did he keep the figurine, but he had it made into a necklace. A few days after the Titan War, he had given it to Tyson, Percy's Cyclops brother, and asked him to put a metal clasp on the top of Hades's head. Tyson had nodded his head eagerly, hardly able to wait to make the "pretty jewelry" for Nico.