Chapter Eleven

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⚠️Trigger Warning ⚠️

Will's POV

I was already in a really depressed mood from seeing everyone else's past. And my mood certainly didn't improve upon seeing we'd arrived in Austin, Texas. My turn. Yippee.

"This you?" Nico asked, taking my hand. My heart throbbed at the sight of him. His black hair hung in his face and his eyes were wide and curious, the black pupils holding more character than any other shade of the rainbow. He seemed to be drowning in his aviator jacket. His hand was cold in mine.

"Yeah," I nodded. I took a deep breath, deciding that if I was going to do this, I was going to face it head on and on my own terms. I wasn't about to run from my past. I wasn't ashamed.

I led the way to my old house. It wasn't that impressive, certainly not an eye catcher. It was just sort of there, melting in the Texas sun. I definitely knew we were in the right place when I heard the music.

"Ooh! What's this? I like this," Connor said, nodding along to the tunes poring from the open windows. "Yeah my mom's a singer. That's why Apollo fell in love with her," I explained.

"Nice," Clarisse put in, really not paying attention to me.

And so we entered the house.

And walked right into a dance party. My mom and I(I was maybe twelve) were dancing around the living room, singing Pompeii by Bastille. I was singing lead and my mom, Naomi, was harmonizing on the chorus.

I had to admit, for a twelve year old son of Apollo, my singing was pretty flawless.

Now I'm going to tell you about my mom. She's pretty awesome. Her skin is really tan, a light shade of brown. She has these really pretty braids—cornrows I think—that she dyed yellow. She was really beautiful and she could sing like nobody's business. (P. S. This is how I imagined her. If you have a different image, that is just fine).

"And the walls kept tumbling down in the city that we love. Grey clouds roll over the hills bringing darkness from above."

Connor whistled. My mom joined in the song then, backing me up. "But if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing changed at all? And if you close your eyes. Does it almost feel like you've been here before?"

I finished by sliding across the floor on my knees with my arms in the air. Mom chuckled. "You are your father's boy."

I was beaming and panting from my performance and mom playfully shoved me over, causing me to topple. "Hey," I called after her on her way to the kitchen to cook some supper.

I sat down at the counter and turned on the TV to the news. Reporters were covering a 'gay parade'. Mom grumbled at the TV and turned it off.

"Look at that! It's disgusting! Those fags...don't they understand that gay marriage is just wrong?"

Twelve year old me swallowed hard and looked down. She would rant about this often. She was very anti gay. I realized my sexuality from a fairly young age, so growing up with my mom preaching the importance of heterosexuality to me was...hard.

Mom glanced down at my uneaten mac n cheese. "You gonna eat that?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. "No," I mumbled, pushing the bowl away from me and running up the stairs.

We all followed me, which I found weird and embarrassing. My face was really warm, meaning I was blushing a ton, meaning my face and my neck were as red as tomatoes.

When we got to the bathroom, I was sitting in the mold-green colored bathtub crying. I sniffled and wiped my nose on my sleeve. Doing this caused me to roll up my sleeves.

Present me groaned, trying to push someone in front of me so I didn't need to watch. That someone just happened to be Percy. He looked at me in concern and put a hand on my shoulder. He nodded in understanding and I felt comforted.

Nico grabbed my hand again, tears in his eyes. He knew already of course, but I guess it was hard for him to watch too.

Young me examine the scars on my wrists thoughtfully before grabbing the razor from the shelf.

"Your ace bandages..." Katie trailed off. It was true. I acted like wrapping ace bandages around my wrists was just a habit, but really I was hiding my scars. I'd only ever shown Nico, Austin, and Kayla.

I cringed and looked away as twelve year old me cut into my wrist with the razor, drawing blood. I hadn't even realized I'd started to cry. Leo looked over at me and I was expecting pity. But instead he just looked me dead in the eyes. "You too?" He whispered and that only made me cry harder.

I cut three more lines when I started to get dizzy. I turned the water on to wash the blood down the drain before wrapping a bandage around them. I snuck from the bathroom to my room and crawled beneath the covers, crying myself to sleep.

There was silence in the house and we walked outside to where the sun was setting. "Will..." Piper started.

"She doesn't know. That I'm gay, I mean. I've been a year-rounder at Camp since I was thirteen. I haven't been back home since then. She doesn't even know I've got a boyfriend. I figured it was just better if I stayed away."

"I'd go with you," Nico said, looking up at me.

"Huh?"

"To your mom's house. I'd go with you."

"Thanks, Nico. That means a lot."

Nico shot the others a look before dragging me off. Somewhere we could be alone, if only for a few minutes. He sat me down in the grass so my back was facing the house. So I didn't have to look at it.

He took my hands in his, palms facing the night sky. His eyes never left mine as he unwrapped the bandages, exposing the scars. There were a lot of them. Too many to count, raised from the skin, some pink, some white. Some were older than others.

Nico kissed every single one of them. Gently, lingering softly after each one. When he was finished, he held my hands to his chest. Tears glistened in my eyes, making my vision blurry.

"I think your scars are beautiful," he said. "Just promise me not to make any more, okay?"

I found myself nodding. "I promise."

"Good," Nico nodded, looking satisfied. He leaned forward, crashing his lips on mine. After a few seconds, he simply pulled me into a hug. Just the two of us sitting criss-cross applesauce in the grass under the stars.

Who's next?(BTW just wanted to point out that the Seven were in order but now it's all just random).

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