Shattered

Nico

He should've killed the gorgons.

He should have cut off Euryale's head and used her vipers to strangle Stheno!

What kind of idiot puts canned goods and bread in the same bag? A dead one that's who!

"Relax Nico," Jason chuckled as he filled the cupboards with that horrible canned pasta he had to have. "Just use the bread to make another one of those amazing casseroles you made this morning."

He shot the blond a pointed look. "That's not the point," he snapped. "When I purchase something I expect that it should at the very least make it out of the store."

Jason snorted, a goofy grin covered his face.

"What?"

"You get really animated when you get upset," the blond laughed. He began to rapidly move his arms around, making exaggerated motions with his hands. "It's like you talk with your hands. Each syllable has a corresponding gesture."

"I do-" He stopped himself, noticing that he had pointed at Jason before placing his other hand on his hip. He felt his face heat up. He turned away from his annoying friend and busied himself with removing everything from the cheap plastic bags.

Jason howled with laughter behind him.

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After putting the groceries away and feeding Percy and Jason a quick lunch, Nico set to work on making dinner while Jason went outside to continue the never ending list of chores.

Once again he had Percy sitting at the kitchen table. The raven haired teen was currently resting his head on his new pillow pet, one eye watching the small television that sat on top of the fridge. In the son of Poseidon's clenched hand was the box of hair dye. Nico honestly wasn't sure if it was a good idea to let Percy dye his hair. On one hand he was trying to keep a constant reminder of Annabeth, but on the other it seemed like such a minor thing to change. After all, wasn't he keeping Will's hat for the same reasons?

"We can try to dye your hair after dinner tonight. Does that sound good Perce?"

The son of Poseidon nodded his head without lifting it up from his panda, wiping it across the table in the process.

Nico bit his lip to stop himself from laughing. He knew Percy was hurting, but sometimes his moping was funny. Sometimes even cute. He pulled out a package of frozen rolls and opened the bag. "I've never dyed hair before," he explained as he counted out twenty-four pieces of the pre-cut dough. "Do you want to dye your entire head, or just some of it?" He knew what Percy wanted to do, but maybe he could coax the older boy into talking. He placed the frozen balls into a greased pan and covered it with a hand towel. They would have to thaw and rise before they could be put into the oven. Hopefully six hours was enough time.

Percy lifted his head, the pillow pet momentarily stuck to his face. He then grabbed the tuft of black hair that until very recently had been a mix of gray and white. When he was satisfied that Nico understood what he wanted, he returned his head to the table.

"I've never dyed hair before," he added, trying to keep Percy engaged. "It wasn't really a thing when I was little and well, the last couple years it wasn't exactly the first thing on my mind."

Percy's body tensed up, before seemingly deflating.

Nico cursed internally at himself. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! He hadn't meant for it to sound like that. He and Percy were good now, they had cleared the air, and they were best friends for Olympus's sake! And normally they were good, but with Percy feeling so depressed, it seemed Percy was looking for any reason to beat himself up.