Pernico :)

#12 We Go Home, Chrion Greets Us, and I Make a Difficult Decision

"Welcome back, boys", Chrion said, greeting us at the Big House.
He was sitting in his wheel chair thingy and playing cards with Mr. D.
Mr. D was staring at his hand and trying to figure out the easiest way to win, but he looked up when he saw Chrion greet us.
"So...you're back."
His voice had no emotion and a hint of sarcasm to it.
I nodded.
"Yep, back from our quest"
Mr. D didn't reply, he just sighed and stared back at his hand, intently.
We stood there for several long moments, till Chrion told us we could go back to our cabins and go see the others.
Nico grabbed my hand in his again and we took off down the hill, towards the mess hall.
As I walked in, I noticed the place was severely quiet.
Too quiet.
I thought.
My cousin looked at me with a questioning glance.
"What's going on?", he whispered.
I shook my head.
"Not sure"
The entire hall was still, there was food still left out on the tables and plates and silverware also.
They hadn't gone far...
Nico let go of my hand and sat down at his table, still looking around for something.
The fire where we would throw our offerings of food to the gods, was blazing and smelled strongly of cookies and flowers.
They'd obviously been here.
I was about to leave, seeing no point in staying there, and go back to my cabin.
Suddenly, I heard all the demigods yell: "SURPRISE!"
The room flooded with people all shouting and cheering.
I saw Grover and Annabeth coming towards me, smiles plastered to their faces.
"Hey G-Man!"
"Peeerrrcy!", he bleated out, happily.
I let my best friend hug me, than I looked over at Annabeth.
"Hi, Wise Girl"
She smiled and I saw the light brighten in her gray eyes.
"Hi, Seaweed Brain!", she replied, throwing herself against me in a hug.
Annabeth squeezed me tight and kissed my cheek.
"I missed you."
I looked across the room and saw Nico.
He had his head down on the table, so his eyes weren't visible.
She stopped hugging me and stared at me, worriedly.
"Percy?"
I couldn't hear her, though.
All I saw was him.
Sighing, I watched as his dark hair fell into his eyes.
"Percy? You there?"
He must've known I was watching him because, he got up than and took off running for his cabin.
"Percy?!", she yelled, voice full of worry.
"Nico, wait!", I shouted, after him.
"PERCY!"
Annabeth was running after me now, her screams strained.
I didn't stop running until, I reached the Hades cabin.
Banging on the door, I shouted: "Nico, please let me in!"
There was silence, the only noise being my 'girlfriend's' screams, as she ran after me.
"Please Nico, I'm sorry!"
I heard the door rustle and than he pulled me inside the cabin, shutting the door behind him.
"What do you want?"
His tone sounded menacing and fearful.
I noticed that he wasn't smiling.
"Come on Perce, spit it the f**k out! Your 'girlfriend's' waiting!"
My body was shaking.
"N-Nico, N-Nico, p-please!"
He laughed, bitterly.
"Please what, Percy? Please take me back? Please accept we can never publicly be together? Please deal with being my second choice? Please don't tell Annabeth? Please don't make me choose? What, Percy? What is it you want from me?!", my cousin than suddenly collapsed on the floor, sobbing.
Tears were brimming in my eyes, now.
I felt like the worst person in the world.
Here was my cousin, my best friend (even before met Grover), the boy I'd been crushing on since that time many years ago, crying because of me.
I'd broke him.
I was the one to blame for all this.
But outside the door was my 'girlfriend', she knew me so well, and I had honestly thought that I loved her.
I couldn't just break up with her.
She'd hate me, forever.
I took a deep breath.
Okay.
Now or never.
I thought, as I walked over and opened up the door, ready to face her...

AN: This will be both Annabeth's and Nico's POVS... :)

After Percy ran out on me, I figured he was gone for good this time.
So, I stayed on my cabin floor, sobbing.
All the while wishing that it weren't true.
That maybe, just maybe, Perseus Achilles Jackson actually loved me.
And that maybe, just maybe, we could be together.
But, all that was gone now.
He was gone, gone from my life for the second time, and was most likely never gonna come back.
"Goodbye, Percy", I whispered quietly, out into the darkness of the room.
"Goodbye Percy Jackson, the only one I'll ever love..."
My eyes were squeezed tightly shut, to hold back my tidal wave of tears.
There was no way I would cry now.
There was no need to.
He was gone.
For the rest of that horrible day, I stayed locked up in my room.
Percy didn't come back at all, and I was sure that if I ventured out, I'd see him with her.
Where he truly belonged.
Because, before I came back into focus for him, there was Annabeth Chase.
She was the girl who made him forget me, the girl who made him happy.
I knew than what I had to do.
Taking a razor blade from the top drawer of my dresser, I began to slice into my arm.
Letting the blood ooze out and onto the floor beneath me.
My vision was blurry, but I could faintly hear the sound of the door opening.
Than, a scream that was undeniably Percy's.
I watched through blurry tear-filled eyes, as he ran over to me and scooped me up in his arms.
Though my vision was distorted, I saw Annabeth in the doorway.
Her eyes were red and puffy and she wasn't smiling at Percy, like she usually did.
"N-Nico? Nico, can you hear me?"
But, I couldn't reply.
My eyes slowly closed shut and I descended into a vast open darkness.
No longer worried about my life.
My father's house came into view, familiar and foreboding.
I heard a hellhound bark and watched the faces of weary spirits trek up slowly, to the gates.
Then, I felt a hand on my shoulder.
I spun around quickly and almost started crying again, when I saw who it was.
"B-Bianca?", I asked.
She nodded.
"Yes Nico, it's me."
My body shook violently, fighting the urge to cry.
"A-Am I d-dead?"
My sister shook her head.
"No, but you soon will be if-"
I didn't get to hear the rest of what she was gonna say because, right than two familiar faces appeared on the path heading towards the gates.
It was Percy and Annabeth.
He was yelling loudly, calling my name.
While, she looked worriedly around, no longer crying.
I caught some of what Percy was saying.
"Nico! It's me, Percy! Look, I'm really sorry! I didn't know! Please Nico, please come back! I don't wanna lose you! I love you Nico Di Angelo! I'm so sorry! Please come back!..."
His voice was lost then, in the sounds of gusts of wind around us.
It stung my face and I felt frozen solid.
I looked back up at my sister, the wind whipping my dark hair around my face.
Her eyes were glazed and she stood, unmoving.
"Bianca!", I cried into the wind.
"What must I do to escape this place?!"
She moved than, and pointed in the direction of Percy and Annabeth.
Two orange shapes, slowly making their way through the wind.
I held my breath, waiting for her answer.
"You must accept. Accept that you can never be the ideal choice for Percy, but that you can give him something better than ideal. Something unique. You must admit that you are special, Nico. That you can make Percy happy, by just being yourself."
I exhaled, and stared at the figures.
They were getting closer.
Looking up at the gates to my father's house, I said a silent prayer.
Than, I looked Bianca level in her eyes.
"Alright, I know what I must do"
Her expression changed to worry, as she watched the sky.
"Okay, but hurry. We don't have much time..."

After, what seemed like forever, Percy finally opened the door.
"Hi, Wise Girl", he said, looking everywhere but, actually at me.
I watched as his eyes flickered over to a tree nearby, seeming fixated on it.
What was wrong with him?
Had something bad happened on the quest?
"Seaweed Brain, what's wrong?", I asked him, my stomach feeling suddenly queasy.
He sighed and stared straight ahead at Half-Blood hill.
"Um Annabeth, something happened while I was away..."
Than suddenly I knew, the iris message the other day, the sadness he'd first experienced when he came to camp...
I wanted to stop my mind from thinking that though, that maybe, just maybe there was another reason.
"W-What is it? Percy, you can tell me"
He took a deep breath and stared out at the grounds.
Strawberries were in season, therefore there were lots of them.
Instantly, I was transported in my mind, back to the time that I first took Percy strawberry picking.
He had claimed that the strawberries should've been blue not red, and we'd argued about that all afternoon and thrown strawberries at each other.
I hadn't known Percy Jackson that long than, but I knew he'd been happy.
So I knew, he wasn't happy now.
"Can we just sit down a moment?", he asked, pulling me from my memories.
I nodded.
We sat down right outside the Hades cabin and just laid there in silence for several moments.
Finally, I got up the guts to tell him that I knew.
"Percy, it's okay. I know."
He looked up, startled.
"Know what?"
I sighed, recalling the IM I had tried to send him.
"About you and Nico. I-I wanted to IM you that day because, I really missed you. But, when I saw you laughing with Nico, I knew it wasn't a good idea. Than, I told myself they're just friends, nothing to worry about but, than I saw him kiss you. And, when you kissed him back, I felt like a complete fool to believe you ever actually loved me."
Tears were streaming down my face, as I said these words.
He looked sadly at me, tears brimming in his own eyes.
"I'm sorry Wise Girl, I never meant for that all to happen, but-"
"But, you wanted it to?", I finished for him.
He nodded, sadly.
"It's okay Seaweed Brain, I understand. Grover had told me that you and Nico go way back. He said that, that was the reason you were so depressed when you first came here..."
Percy nodded and grabbed my hand.
"How did you meet?"
He laughed and I watched his eyes light up with many emotions.
Mainly happiness.
"At my 8th birthday party. He was really shy back than, still is. My mom always said: 'Percy, someday you're gonna meet a pretty girl'. But, I didn't exactly meet a pretty girl.
Me and my friend Nico would have sleepovers together. We'd talk about how it was crazy how we were actually related. Cousins even.
About my sh*tty stepfather and his sh*tty father Hades.
We would lie awake and stare at the ceiling and just cuddle each other close.
Sometimes, we were all we had.
I never thought I'd fall for someone, much less someone I'd known so long.
Which is why it kinda shocked my mom Sally a little when I told her I was gay.
I mean, I was shocked too.
I hadn't met a 'pretty girl', I'd met a 'beautiful boy...", he stared off into the distance, probably remembering the past and the memories he had.
"Thanks for telling me, Seaweed Brain"
He smiled, wiping tears from his green ocean eyes.
"Thanks for understanding, Wise Girl"
We started sobbing than and he pulled me in a hug.
It wasn't like a boyfriend/girlfriend hug, just an ordinary friend/friend hug, but nothing is ordinary when you know Percy Achilles Jackson.
We stayed like that for a while, not speaking.
Than, we heard someone scream from inside the cabin...