He Just Seemed So Far Away (Percy Jackson) (Percy x Grover)

Chapter Eleven

Leo

I mean, it's not like they were very secretive about it.

They were cute, don't get me wrong. But they weren't secretive whatsoever. I wish I could date my best friend.

Not like... I don't like Jason. I mean just like the general idea. That'd be awesome. That whole awkward gap of time when you're just starting to go out wouldn't be there.

But afterwards, Nico and I had arts and crafts together and we've never talked a ton during it. We're not close by any means, I don't really think.

I was curious, though.

"Hey, Nico," I brought up. "do you like anyone? I feel like I hear a lot about everyone else and you just awkwardly sit there."

"I mean, not really." Nico answered, shrugging. "I did for a while, but I've moved on."

"Annabeth?" I suggested, wanting a clear read on that theory.

"What? No." He insisted, shaking his head. "I've never liked Annabeth much, friend or else wise. She was really bitchy with my sister and I've just felt weird around her ever since."

"Ahhh..." I said and kind of thought for a minute. I mean, Nico's cute. In a darker sense, he's kind of hot. He can pull off the long hair and the man bun and everything. Not the super tight one, but a messy one. "you're straight though?"

He hesitated. Like, that question kind of caught him off guard. But I felt like I should ask because now Percy's gay and Grover is pan and I'm bi and what's another person, right? I don't remember if he was kicked out or not.

"Uh, no." He ended up going with the one that I wasn't expected. "I'm gay."

He sounded really unsure about it.

"Are you sure?" I asked him. "You don't sound like you're sure about that."

"No, I am, I just... You're the first person I've actually told." Nico explained to me, which was a really high honor for me. "Jason's the only other person... No, Percy knows. Jason found out by accident and Percy sort of found out by accident. It was a guilt letter that I didn't think I was going to actually give him and I gave him the wrong one. So yeah. It's a process, you know?"

"Oh, yeah," I agreed with that, remember when I first realized I also liked guys and it was this whole ordeal that I didn't know I could be bi so I said I was gay and then somebody told me they were bi and it was a whole second revelation.

7th grade was a time. Not necessarily a good one, but a time.

"I mean, the whole process of coming out is weird, though." I pointed that out as I started making a painting, mixing colors, struggling. Nico was really good at art and I'm kind of jealous. "Like, if you're straight, you don't have to. And there's such a stereotype and like, yeah. Did you not tell anyone because you just didn't really like anyone or like...? I know when I first came out it was terrifying, I'm honored that you actually told me."

"I mean, I just wasn't comfortable with it for a long time." Nico told me, shrugging. "like, I knew I was gay but I wasn't sure how to handle it because I'm at camp and camp isn't the mortal world, which is where we'll be in a few years so I went to the mortal world for a while and figured out what people thought because pre-Lotus Casino me would've been like shunned for that and whatever else, 1940s America. Well, 39, but still. So I figured out that it was an okay thing but it just took a while for me to get out of that subconscious thought of it and be okay with it, I guess. Jason helped a little after he found out."

I almost didn't ask. But I had to.

"So who made you realize it?"

"We don't need to talk about that."