Nico di Angelo is the (angelsbreath) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-02-10 17:08:00 |
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Entry tags: | nico di angelo, percy jackson |
Who: Nico di Angelo and Percy Jackson
What: Nico fills his cousin in on what happened in the temple
When: A long long time ago (Like Novemberish really)
Where: A random diner.
Rating/Warnings: Talk of ghosts and personal demons
Status: Complete when posted.
Nico was trying to remember that it was okay to rely on his family. On his friends and - Percy fell in the category of both. He’d broken down on the drive back from L.A. with Will and told his boyfriend exactly what he’d gone through in that temple. The test he’d undergone where he’d been confronted by his mother’s ghost from the dreams. He’d told Thalia about seeing her when they’d had lunch but now...now he needed to tell his other cousin. He was sitting at a table, picking at a sandwich and side of fries while he waited, flipping through his notes from his class that morning.
***
Percy didn’t know much about what had gone on in any of those weird temples a few months back, but he had heard a few stories about the one people had called the Jungle Temple, so when Nico told him about seeing his mother’s ghost, he knew that they probably needed to get together, because talking about something like this on the internet probably wasn’t the way to make anyone feel better. So instead of asking a ton of questions over the network, they had made plans to get together for lunch.
Reaching the cafe they had decided to meet at, Percy spotted his cousin then went and ordered his own food before heading over to the table, “Hey. Have you been waiting long?”
***
Nico gave him a half smile as Percy joined him, closing his notebook and shoving it to the side as his cousin made himself comfortable. “Not too long. I was just looking over some notes to keep busy while I tried to convince myself to actually eat my food.” He’d been having less and less of an appetite lately. “How’ve you been?”
***
“I’ve been alright. Finals time is always a little stressful for me,” If there were any tests that Percy hated most, it was finals. There was just so much stress connected to finals. “And I’ve been trying to figure out what to get Annabeth for Christmas and I have no idea.”
***
“I’ll be glad when they’re over. Our entire apartment feels like one big ball of stress. Cesare has taken to laying in his bed glaring at everyone who comes near him.” He grinned at his cousin. “I figured out what to get Will. It’s just a matter of finding someplace to keep it one the 23rd. I’m giving him his main gift Christmas Eve.”
***
“Cesare is probably upset that no one is showing him any attention.” Percy laughed, imagining the dog sitting there and glaring at everyone. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out. Is it like something big or is he just the snooping type?” Percy had always been the snooping type as a kid, but Sally had been exceptional at hiding his Christmas presents and he never found anything despite the fact that their apartment in New York hadn’t been particularly big.
***
“Between us? I’m giving him a golden retriever puppy for Christmas. I know how much he misses his dad’s and well Cesare loves him but it’s not the same. And it’ll be a playmate when we’re all in classes for him.” Nico said a smile on his face as he imagined how Will would react to the gift. He hoped his boyfriend liked it. “I picked him out a few weeks ago, he’ll be ready for pickup the 23rd and I’m just hoping I can come up with something to keep him secret for another 24 hours.”
***
“I don’t see why he wouldn’t like that,” From what Percy knew about Will, he knew that he loved dogs so he had a pretty good feeling that Will would like Nico’s present, “And I bet Cesare will love it too. Paul has still been trying to convince my mom to get a dog. She keeps saying that they’re still not finished with the house, which is a lie. She’s just worried a dog will chew things up and stuff.”
***
“Well...they do but...you can always give your stepdad the argument of training can put an end to that? And I will provide lots of recommendations for chew toys if he wants.” Nico said with a half shrug. Percy’s mom and stepdad would provide a great home for a dog he was sure.
“But I’m pretty sure you didn’t want to grab lunch so we could talk about Christmas presents for our significant others or dogs.” He said, a little bit of reluctance in his voice. It would be nice to be able to pretend they were just normal cousins but pretending wasn’t something he’d ever done a lot of.
***
Percy knew that eventually his mother would cave. Right now she was enjoying having a big, clean house for the first time after living in a small apartment for most of her adult life and Percy could totally understand that, but he knew Paul was going to convince her sooner rather than later.
When Nico brought up the real reason they had gotten together, he nodded and took a sip of his drink before speaking, “Yeah, are you alright? That must have been really unnerving.”
***
Nico was more playing with his food than eating it right now, which wasn’t anything new for him really. “It’s...It’s still hard not to believe that what she said was right. That it was my and Bianca’s fault Father couldn’t save her too. I know it’s not. The people that were with me in there told me that it wasn’t really her and that my mom wouldn’t blame me but I kind of blame myself I guess? Which I know makes no sense because it was Dad’s brother that did it but…” Nico shrugged, looking across the table at his cousin.
***
“They’re right, Nico. No one, especially your mom, would blame you for anything like that.” Percy didn’t know all the details about what exactly went on in the various pyramids, especially the one that Nico had been in, but from the sounds of it it was a literal nightmare and Percy couldn’t imagine what that would be like. “So you shouldn’t blame yourself.”
***
“I know. I know. Logically I know. But following right on the heels of the dream about losing her? When I was already thinking it was my fault? That he should have saved her and not us from that thunderbolt? It’s just harder to convince myself....emotionally.” Nico said, his accent coming through a little stronger than it normally. The same way it always did when he was upset. He stopped himself, taking a deep breath and counting to ten before continuing. “That pyramid...It was a test. Facing our inner demons. At least I think that’s what we were supposed to be doing. Xena...saw her soulmate. And the guy that was in there with us saw his sister. It...I never want to go through anything like that again.”
***
Percy hated the fact that Nico had had to go through something like that and would ever think that anyone would blame him for something like that either. “I know it can be hard to believe it, but it’s the truth. And of course your dad would try to save you and Bianca. I mean, I’m sure he would have tried to save all three of you if he could, but in that sort of situation he had to make a choice.” Granted, Hades was a god and probably could have saved all three of them without breaking a sweat, but he didn’t know the whole story. After all, it had all happened way before he was even born. “I hope you never have to go through something like that again either.”
***
“Next time there are weird buildings showing up in Orange County I’m not going anywhere near them. In fact - I might just stay in my apartment since I don’t think anyone got taken from inside of their homes during that insanity.” Nico said, draining his drink.
***
Percy nodded, “That’s probably a good idea.” Percy would go out and help out whenever he was able to when crazy stuff happened in the OC, but he didn’t go running into places he wasn’t familiar with. “Or next time, maybe we should all stick together.” After all, in the dreams, they were better off together than alone.
***
“Sticking together sounds good too. Safety in numbers after all right?” Nico said giving his cousin a half smile.