Inconvenient Love

Chapter 4

The next morning, Nico came down to get his usual coffee to find them all at breakfast again. He met Will's eyes for a second too long before looking away, remembering how they had to act.

"Nico," Hades gestured his son over. "Come sit."

"I'm just getting coffee." Nico declined.

"Nico..." Hades stood up and put a hand on Nico's shoulder. "Come sit down and apologize to Naomi and her son."

"And why would I do that?" Nico asked. He refused to look at Will as the lies started. "I don't like either of them and I thought I made that perfectly clear. Now I've got to show him around my school and have to deal with all his questions all day. School is my nap time, you know."

"Hades." Naomi stood up before he could say anything else. "Can I talk to him? I feel like we should just talk, by ourselves."

Nico scowled. "I don't want to talk to you-"

"Nico, go talk to her." Hades gave him his coffee before moving him to a side sitting room. "And be nice. You don't want me taking away your keys."

Nico rolled his eyes. "I just woke up and you're throwing me into a conversation I don't want to have. Perfect."

"You shouldn't have just woken up then." Hades walked out of the room once he got his son in it, leaving Nico alone with Will's mother.

"I feel like we got off on the wrong foot..." her fake smile made Nico want to throw up. "I know you're not fond of people moving in here. Your father told me about how you treated Persephone and Hazel's mother..."

"Did he tell you why?" Nico asked. "Did he tell you why he broke up with Persephone?"

She shook her head. "Well, no..."

"She was stealing from him," Nico explained. "Stealing and lying and cheating. He never believed me. But then he found out for himself. She was using him for his money and I'm pretty sure you're doing the same. So forgive me if I don't really like you."

Naomi blinked in surprise. "She...was stealing from him?"

Nico nodded. "Yeah."

"No wonder you don't trust me." Naomi looked into his eyes. "Look, I'm not stealing from him. I can promise you that."

Though she looked truthful, Nico still didn't trust her. "Fine, whatever."

She sighed. "We just need to act like we get along. For your father's sake."

Nico rolled his eyes. "I doubt you're doing anything for his sake, but okay. Now, if you don't mind, I'm leaving. I won't be bothered by all the idiots in this house."

He walked off without another word, going upstairs to grab his keys before leaving the house. Being at home was going to be miserable from now on, that much was certain, but there was always a certain blond that could make that better. In private, though. Always in private.

Nico got in his car and tore off down the road, the windows down and the wind blowing through his hair. He needed a distraction. He needed someone to talk to. So he headed to Percy's.

Percy Jackson could be an idiot, but Nico trusted him more than anyone else. They had known each other since they were children. When Nico was just five, he met Percy at a park that Ms. Jackson used to take her son to.

"It's Percy's first time here." Sally kneeled beside her son and the small Italian boy. "Can he play with you?"

Nico's eyes got large at the request. He looked over at Bianca, who was hanging from the monkey bars. "Yeah!"

"I'm Percy." Percy grabbed Nico's hand and pulled them away from his mother. "How old are you?"

Nico held up three fingers. "Five."

"I'm six," Percy said proudly. "My stepdad just died. We got to come and play."

"You play when you're sad?" Nico asked.

Percy shook his head. "I'm happy." His newly discovered ADHD kicked in. "Hey, is that your sister?"

Nico looked at where Percy was pointed, his eyes widening again. "How could you tell?!"

Percy grinned. "My water magic."

Ever since then they had met up each weekend. But one weekend Nico didn't show up, instead sitting in a hospital as the doctors told him. Told him that Bianca had met the same early fate as his mother.

After he had seen her and said goodbye to a cold, bloody corpse, Nico was walked out into the waiting room to find Sally and Percy waiting. Beside them, her new husband held Percy's hand.

That's when the dam behind his eyes broke, and he ran with tears into Sally's arms. He stayed the night with them, stayed the week, stayed a month until Hades was stable enough to bring him home. But Bianca had been his favorite kid, they all knew it, and nobody was ever the same.

But it had strengthened his relationship with Percy and the two became like brothers. But a year went by and Nico couldn't remember what Bianca looked like without a picture. And then some more went by. In seventh grade, he found an older boy drinking at the old park. He joined him and didn't remember the rest of the night, but he had woken up the next morning, naked and sore beneath the cold slide. Seventh grade...Sally sobbed when she found out. The police never found out who had done it. But just like that, whatever was left of Nico's innocence disappeared right before their eyes.

But Percy stayed. And that was when Nico's trust for him completely skyrocketed and sealed. And right now, driving with anger and tears and shit in his eyes, Nico headed for the one friend he could truly call a friend. The one friend he could tell about Will.