Nico di Angelo is the (angelsbreath) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-05-08 23:18:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, annabeth chase, nico di angelo |
Who: Nico di Angelo and Annabeth Chase with slight mentions of NPCHades at beginning
When: Sometime in April
Where: USC Campus
What: Running into a potential new friend
Rating: Low
Status: Complete when posted
When his father had first asked if he wanted to spend some time together this hadn’t been what Nico thought he’d had in mind. He’d thought maybe they’d go to a movie, a museum, something but not him having to sit through a lecture his father was giving on filmmaking at another college. He shifted in his chair, trying to pay attention but his mind was wandering - this wasn’t something he was interested in at all but it mattered to his dad. He waited a few more minutes, hoping that it would get better but when he found himself fighting back a yawn he decided to get up and leave. Maybe fresh air would help. He waited until Hades was looking at the other side of the crowd to stand up and slip out, trying to be as discreet as he could.
“Next time I need to make sure to ask what he has in mind before agreeing to spend the day with him,” he said, speaking to himself as he stepped outside the building and looked up into the sky, squinting a little bit into the sun. At least it was nice out today.
***
The days seemed to get shorter and shorter as finals approached, and it felt like she hardly had any time to do anything of the things that she planned. Annabeth was just leaving class, in a hurry to get to the cafeteria to get something to eat before she headed back to her dorm to do some more studying. Her most important finals were coming up, and she knew she had to do everything she could to get a stellar grade. But, did she ever do anything else? She knew her grades were important, but she also couldn’t wait for the day she could do something that wasn’t studying. She knew that her mental health depended on a little break, too. Not that she liked admitting that she needed a break from studying and learning. It was what she prided herself on.
Lost in thought about she didn’t notice that there was someone stopped just outside of her building. As she rushed out, she bumped right into him, her books scattering onto the floor. “Oh my gosh,” she said as she nearly tumbled over herself. She righted herself and looked to the person that she had essentially just bowled right over in her haste to get out of the building. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see you and it’s bright out, and I was really hungry,” she said in one big breath. “Are you okay?” She asked as she bent down to start picking up the mess she had made.
***
Nico wasn’t expecting someone to run into him and he almost fell over, reaching out with one hand to use one of the pillars to keep from falling over. He glared at the girl who’d almost knocked him over for a moment before realizing that he was at least half at fault. He hadn’t been paying that much attention to his surroundings himself. He sighed as he stood upright and knelt down to try and help her gather her things. “I’m fine. I wasn’t thinking about what, or who might be around me,” he said, glancing up at her. “Are you okay?” he asked. There was just a touch of an accent left in his voice, enough to be noticed but not enough to place unless you were trained in that kind of thing. Or used to hearing an Italian accent.
***
Annabeth hadn’t noticed the glare, she was far too busy making sure she had all of her notes. They were important to her survival here at college. She had been so distracted by gathering up her things that she had almost missed his question. Lifting her head up to look at him she smiled a little. “I’m fine. Just in a rush and not paying attention. It’s not like me, really, but finals are coming up and I have a lot to study for,” she said with a sigh. Not that he wanted to know her apparent whole life story. Or even a small fraction of her life story. “Are you from around here?” Annabeth had noted the hint of an accent.
After collecting everything, she adjusted the books in her arms and pulled them closer to her again. “Were you not carrying anything? I would hate to have gotten some of your stuff in my stuff and then you’d be without it.” Her head tilted and she just looked up at him expectantly.
***
Nico gave a small smile when he heard that rambling answer as he handed her her things. It reminded him of his sister in a way. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. He should probably call his sisters and make sure they were okay, see if Hazel wanted to hang out again soon. Now that he was settled into his new dorm it should be easier to make time for everybody in his life. He was a lot less stressed already, even with finals. “I’m originally from Italy.”
“I didn’t have anything in my hands. My father is giving a lecture here today and asked me to come with him. I decided to step outside and get some fresh air since I wasn’t following it. Did we get everything?” he asked, standing up slowly.
***
“That sounds incredible! Did you love it? What made you move back? Would you ever want to move back there?” Annabeth had a million questions that this poor guy probably didn’t want to answer, but she was interested. “I’ve been other places, but nowhere like Italy. Although, I’d love to go there someday. Maybe once I graduate. I bet the architecture there is just lovely.” The thought left her a little glassy eyed. Annabeth would love nothing more than to go overseas to see all of the old buildings. It was on her bucket list.
She nodded and smiled. “Thanks for helping me pick everything up. I’m glad to know you won’t be missing anything.” And glad to know that she had everything that she would need, too. “What exactly is your father lecturing on?” Her head tilted as she looked up at him, genuinely interested in what he had to say.
“You know, I was about to head over and get something to eat if you’d like to join me.” It was a little random, but she figured it didn’t hurt to ask.
***
Nico laughed softly at those rapid fire questions, holding up a hand to ask her to slow down. He was fluent in English after living here for two years, or at least he thought he was, but he still lost the flow of conversation sometime when it started going fast like this. “I would love to live in Italy again but my parents thought California would be a good change for our family.” He said. It was mostly the truth, he just wasn’t sharing the reason behind the move. Most people here in the United States didn’t know why his parents had wanted to move, or about the circumstances behind his half sister moving with them. A few people actually thought that Hazel was his cousin and Nico just didn’t bother correcting them. It wasn’t any of their business and if they couldn’t figure it out with the fact that he referred to her as his little sister regularly - that wasn’t his problem.
He smiled when he saw that look on her face when she mentioned the architecture, his own face getting a little dreamy as he thought about where he’d grown up. “It’s a beautiful place to live. My madre and I used to go to the museums and the galleries - the art there. It’s nothing like here.” He said, his voice coming out a little wistfully. “Filmmaking. When I came out he was talking about the work that went into picking a location. Not my area of interest. He’d been talking about set design - I’d probably still be in there,” he admitted. “What are you studying?” he asked, curiously.
Her invitation surprised him and he figured it was probably obvious on his face but it beat sitting in the lecture hall. And his father was probably going to be wrapped up talking to people after the fact so he had time to talk to somebody. “Alright. I’m Nico by the way. Nico di Angelo.”
***
Annabeth couldn’t help the word vomit she had spewed out at Nico. She couldn’t help that she had a million questions for someone she found immediately interesting. He got to see and do things that she only dreamed of. How could she not have qustions? She watched him with rapt attention as he went through her list of questions. “Its definitely different, I bet. I mean, I’ve never lived in Italy myself, but I can imagine that it’s a very different sort of life. Are you enjoying it?” She wondered which life he prefered more. Not that she had any right to ask or that he had to answer. She was just curious.
“I have to admit that I’m incredibly jealous,” she said with a sigh. “I would give anything to have had the chance to see any of that. “I feel like there’s so much I want to see and not nearly enough time to do it all.” Annabeth looked up at him and smiled. “You’ll have to tell me all about it over lunch!” She still had so many questions. “You’re in the right place for filmmaking, then! I bet that’s really exciting, too. You’re just full of fun things, aren’t you?” She asked with a wide smile. He was an interesting person. Annabeth liked that about him. “Me? Oh, I want to be an architect. I want to design the buildings I love to look at so much.”
Annabeth was thrilled when he agreed to come with her. “I’m Annabeth. Annabeth Chase. It’s great to meet you, Nico.” She glanced up at him and then beckoned him to follow her towards the cafeteria. “Just follow me!”
***
Was he enjoying living here? He’d never really thought about it before. He missed Italy, his friends, his childhood home, everything but if he was still there he wouldn’t have met Sans, he wouldn’t have his little sister and he really couldn’t imagine not having Hazel in his life, not knowing her. It was an easy question in some ways but very complicated in others. “There are things in my life here that I wouldn’t have back home. People that I wouldn’t have otherwise. Overall I am,” he said honestly.
“I’ll make a deal with you - I’ll answer your questions if you answer mine,” he offered as they made their way to the cafeteria. “I’m actually studying interior design at Irvine. I don’t want to be involved in films at all. My father is a director. More well known in Italy than here but he’s changing that I think.”
***
“That makes sense. I can’t imagine giving up everything that I’ve ever known.” Then again, she had tried to do that when she was younger in order to escape the terrible things that had been happening in her life. “I think I would miss it too much now,” she said with a shrug. “I mean, I miss home now and I haven’t even really gone that far.” But it wasn’t people she missed, but places. That was the difference. As she walked alongside him she smiled and nodded. “Sure. That seems fair enough. What would you like to know?” Annabeth knew she wasn’t that exciting. “Really? Then why would you come and listen to a lecture that isn’t about what you’re interested in? I suppose I could deduce that you came simply because it was your father, but wasn’t there something else you’d rather be doing today?”
***
“I didn’t have a choice. I was 16,” Nico said softly as they walked. “Where did you grow up?” He asked her comment about not having gone that far making him curious. “You said you haven’t gone very from home so - somewhere in California?” he guessed, glancing at her as he reached to open the door to the cafeteria. “First question: Do you have any siblings?” He swallowed at her question. “He asked if I wanted to spend the day together. With school and his work schedule we haven’t really had a lot of time to just talk lately so I agreed without asking what we were going to do so - I’m here for his lecture.” He shrugged at her question. “If I was still on campus I’d either be hanging out with my roommate or studying. Which I’d probably still be hanging out with him while I did. Or maybe hanging out with the guy who lives across the hall from us,” he said, biting his tongue as he realized what he’d just blurted out to her.
***
Annabeth listened to him talk about not having a choice, and it was something she felt like she could relate to. “I can understand that.” This was part of why college was so important to her. Now, she finally got to make her own choices, and do the things that she wanted without someone breathing down her neck. Even though things had been better with her family, it hadn’t meant that she wasn’t thrilled to be away from them. “San Francisco.” She shrugged a little. “It feels like I’m half-way around the world from there now.” She stepped inside the cafeteria and smiled her thanks at him. “Siblings? Well, I have two half-brothers. Matthew and Bobby. The apples of my step-mother’s eye,” she said with a roll of her eyes. It wasn’t her brothers fault, but it didn’t mean that it wasn’t annoying.
“Oh, well, it was nice of him to invite you.” She wasn’t entirely sure that it was, really, if they weren’t actually spending time together. “I’ve been studying non-stop. I try to do it in my own room, but the people who live on my floor are terrible, and they have no common decency,” she huffed. It still frustrated her. “The library has been my best friend lately, but I promised Percy I’d help him with his studying.” Annabeth smiled a little at the thought. “I love studying, and school, but I think that hanging out with the guy across the hall sounds like a much better choice at this point.”
***
“I went to San Francisco with my madre for a day a few months after we moved. It was a lot to take in.” Nico said, that visit had been cut short by a family crisis and it had just never worked out for them to go back. He noticed that roll of her eyes when she mentioned her step-mother and couldn’t help but wonder if that was how Hazel thought of Maria sometimes but he tossed that thought out as quickly as it came - his mother went out of her way not to favor any of the three of them over the other two. She treated Hazel the same as Bianca and Nico. “I have two sisters. One older, one younger.” Nico told her as they made their way to the line.
“I appreciate the thought but I wish he’d picked another day but - he’s making an effort,” Nico said shrugging halfway. “I lost some time studying when I moved. Because the people in my old dorm were hell.” He paused for a moment. “But my best friend let me move in with him so I can hang out with him and study at the same time. Who’s Percy?” he asked, noticing that smile. “His name’s Will. We’re becoming friends. He’s pretty easy to talk with. And helped me unpack a lot of my stuff.”
***
“If you ever get the chance you should go back. The architecture is beautiful and there are a lot of fun things to do.” Annabeth was always going to promote San Francisco to people. Despite all of the bad things that had happened to her, she loved it there. It was where her passions for architecture had started. It held a soft spot in her heart. “I sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have a sister. I don’t know that it would’ve been much different, but sometimes I think it would’ve been nice to have another girl around.” Her stepmother didn’t count.
Annabeth looked over her choices, trying to figure out what she was hungry for. She nodded at Nico. It was nice of his Dad to even try. It meant something. “That bad, huh?” The people on her floor were pretty terrible, but she could handle them for the most part. “Oh! Living with your best friend must be nice! At least you know that you can trust him, and be honest if something is bothering you. “At least she assumed he could be. That’s what best friends were for, right? She picked up a salad and tried to ignore the flutter in her stomach. “Percy? Oh, he’s just one of my friends here. He wasn’t thrilled with his history final, so I offered to help. I love history. There’s always something interesting to learn.” She continued down the line, picking up things here and there that she wanted to snack on. “That’s helpful of him,” she said of Will. “It’s good that you’re in a much better place, and surround by people you actually like.”
As they came up to the cashier, Annabeth turned around and smiled at him. “Lunch is on me, by the way. It’s my apology for bumping into you and nearly taking you out.”
***
“I’ll ask my madre about going back. She wanted to check out some of the galleries,” Nico said. Art was the passion he and Maria shared. It always had been. “I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have a brother but...I think at the end of the day I’d rather have my sisters. Even if I do get along better with Hazel.” He figured it was because they didn’t know all the stupid things the other had done growing up.
“I won’t miss anyone in my old dorm very much,” Nico admitted. “Yeah - Sans and I can be honest with each other about things. Best thing that came out of my old room - I got driven out of it one night beginning of the semester and met my best friend. Will’s....great I think.” He needed to call the blonde boy soon. Or maybe just go across the hall and ask if he wanted to go and hang out, do something.
“You don’t need to do that Annabeth.”
***
“I can always give you some great places to go. I’m pretty much an expert on it,” she said with a big smile. Annabeth nodded at him. “Funny how we seem to be opposites in this respect, isn’t it? My brothers aren’t bad, or anything, but things haven’t always been easy. I can’t blame them, though.” Being the only one who wasn’t technically from the same family made it a little awkward for her growing up. Like she somehow just didn’t fit in. “Is Hazel your younger sister or your older sister?”
Annabeth could relate. It wasn’t that she wasn’t friendly, but it took awhile for her to warm up to people. Once she did warm up to them, though, she was incredibly loyal to their friendship. “You were driven out? Happens to me a lot, too. Was it noise related or person related?” Either of those things didn’t sound appealing to her. Annabeth couldn’t help but throw a smile over her shoulder. “You think he’s great? Or you know? Those are two very different things.” Annabeth suspected he knew how great he was. She had the same problem.
“Of course I don’t have to, but I want to. So, I will.”
***
“If you ever get a chance to go to Italy, which I really hope you do because you’d probably love it - I can give you the names of some places to go,” Nico told her, his face lighting up with a smile as he thought about the churches he’d grown up with. The museums. Just all of the buildings. “Some of them might not be in the guidebooks. Or not easy to find in them,” he told her, putting his choices on his tray. “Hazel’s younger than me. Bianca’s older.”
“Both actually - noisy person. Incredibly noisy person.” Nico told her, shuddering slightly as he thought about the noises. “I don’t know him very well yet but...I think he’s pretty great. We bumped into each other in the hall when I was moving.” And had spent the afternoon unpacking and eating pizza, building a box fort to inconvenience everyone in the hallway.
“Only if you let me get it the next time.”
***
“That would be incredible! I’m hoping that once I’m done with school I’ll get the chance to travel and see what the world has to offer. I’d love to be able to look at all of the different architecture around the world. It’s on my bucket list,” she seemed to say all in one breath. His excitement only made her more excited. It was contagious. “Things that aren’t in the books sound like things I would prefer to see. Not that I don’t want to see the major stuff that places have to offer, but I’d love to find things off the beaten path, too. I think, sometimes, those places tend to have a bit more character.” And if Nico suggested it then she knew that it must be worthwhile. “How does it feel being in the middle? Or do you even feel like you’re the middle child at all?” Annabeth was the oldest, so she always felt a little removed from it all.
Annabeth made a face, and shook her head. “I don’t think I want to know what that entails. Your reaction says it all for me.” Thankfully, she hadn’t experienced that. Yet. “That sounds great. I think it’s important to make good friends like that. They’re hard to come by. When I came to school I didn’t know anybody. Percy was the first person I really became friends with. And I won’t admit this, especially to Percy, but I needed that. It was nice to know I had someone to trust here.” And she imagined that Nico understood what she was saying.
Walking up to the cashier, she placed her tray on the counter for the cashier to start ringing up. “His too,” she said with a nod of her head. “You have to be quick around here, Nico. We’ll see what happens next time,” she said with a smile.
***
“More character and there’s less tourists so you can enjoy it more, less distractions I think.” He thought about her question for a minute before answering. “It took some time to get used to Hazel living with us. She’d always lived with her mom before we moved to the United States.” Which was the truth, just not the whole truth. “I’m used to being the middle kid now but when she first moved in - I hated that feeling. And then I felt guilty for resenting her being there.”
“Yeah. Some mental images should not be shared in detail.” He listened to her while she talked about Percy, understanding exactly what she meant. “I can understand that. Most of my friends that I made here - went somewhere else for college. Or are already finished with college like my friend Chloe.”
He laughed at her comment about seeing what happened next time. “I’ll be quicker next time,” he said, nodding as he waited for her to finish with the cashier so they could go find a table. He was looking forward to getting to know her better.