Hate to Love (Valdangelo)

Personal History

Nico was sitting in a dark corner of one of the Argo II's hallways, debating whether or not he should listen to music on the iPods Leo made for each of them.

He weighed both options in his thoughts before finally putting earbuds in his ears. He figured music was better than listening to the seven other half-bloods deciding what they would do when they touched down in Long Island, and one satyr screaming not so threatening insults into the wind up on deck.

Nico was glad when he could no longer hear the satyr's pointless screams and music instead filled his ears and drowned everything else out.

He wasn't paying attention to what was playing at first, so when it turned slightly techno, he got a little confused. He listened to the lyrics, something about ash and dust, and chemicals, and an apocalypse.

He realized it was a popular song, as he'd heard quite a few people talking about it on his walks out into the cities and towns. He couldn't remember who sang it, however, and didn't feel like checking it.

Then the song changed, and this one was even more techno, but he strangely found himself liking it.
He closed his eyes and listened carefully to the lyrics, and the different parts of the song.

He then heard a song that he knew quite well, believe it or not, and began to hum along.

"Don't wanna let you down, but I am hell bound."

He thought the song fit him pretty well, and was enjoying the fact that someone out there understood him-not by much, but at least enough-when it changed again. The song was a little too cheerful for him, so he finally gave in and opened his eyes to change it.

He froze.

There was someone sitting next to him. They had taken out Nico's earbuds, put one of those things that let a person use two pairs of earbuds on one device, and put both theirs and Nico's back in-all without Nico noticing. How that happened, he would never know.

He stared at the boy sitting next to him, his face hidden behind dark locks of curly hair. He had a dark tan, and he had a tool belt around his waist.

Leo turned his head, saw Nico watching him with a surprised and confused look. Leo chuckled nervously.

"Sorry. I just-I was curious about the type of music you listen to-" One of Nico's eyebrows raised. "And that sounds super stupid now that I say it out loud, but... Uh..." Leo paused, and an uncomfortable silence filled the air.

"Do you really feel like no one is paying attention to what you say, or do you just like the song?" Nico blinked. "Okay... Never mind." Leo looked away for a moment or two, and Nico took this time to think about the question.

Most of the time he does feel like no one can truly understand him, that no one is paying enough attention to him to understand what he's going through. Hazel is the closest person to him, but that's somewhat a default because they're siblings, and Bianca had died.

At the reminder of Bianca, Nico's eyes started to sting. It's been a couple years, but it still hurt, and probably will continue to hurt for the rest of his life.

Nico opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by another statement from Leo.

"I feel like no one ever pays attention to me. I'm only the lowly mechanic who uses humor to hide how he truly feels." Leo paused. "And now I'm confessing that to someone I barely know, just because tend to listen to the same music as them. Why am I even..?" His last sentence started out as a whisper, and quieted down until it faded away all together.

Leo told Nico something personal, so against everything Nico normally does, he thought it would only be fair to return it.

"Everyone thinks I'm the dark and emo guy sitting by himself, and sometimes I am. They're scared to even get close to me." Nico smiled sadly. "But they were probably too scared to go up to a little kid who bounced and around talking about stupid card games, and getting excited even when things were supposed to be what 'normal' people would think were terrifying." Leo cracked a smile and looked Nico in the eye.

"You were really a hyper little kid once? Wow. I never would have guessed. I thought you would be sitting in a corner wishing everyone would just go crawl in hole and die." Nico looked down.

"I kind of did, at one point." The smile on Leo's face quickly dropped from his face.

"Oh." Nico nodded, and a question that was nagging him silently in the back of his mind came tumbling out of his mouth, surprising himself. He normally avoided talking to people, especially when it had nothing to do with a quest or something of the like.

"When you said you use humor to hide what you really feel, what did you mean?" The music was still playing, and it took Nico a moment to realize he'd already taken one earbud out to be able to hear the boy sitting next to him. Leo had done the same at some point as well.

"I usually make a lot of jokes when I'm scared, or sad. It also helped when I was in all those foster homes. Humor kept me from getting picked on, let people have a reason to keep me around. But I could never forget the pain the jokes were trying to hide." Leo paused, picking his next words carefully, as far as Nico could tell. "My... My mom died, and it was my fault. We.. We were in her workshop, and we were about to leave. She forgot her keys inside. So when she went back..." Tears pooled in his bottom lid, and Nico began to feel awkward. He wasn't good with himself crying, let alone other people. "Anyway, Gaea showed up, and I kinda flamed up when I was banging on the door for my mom.. I set the building on fire, and none of my family members wanted me. My aunt even called me a diablo." He shook his head, a tear fell from his eye, and the warm drop landed on Nico's hand.

"I know how you feel. I don't remember when my mom died, but when my sister-" Nico's voice cracked, and he cut off. Leo's head snapped to the side.

"Your sister? But Hazel..." A tear betrayed Nico and fell from his eye, dripping slowly down his face to his chin, where it fell and landed somewhere on his shirt. Realization dawned in Leo's eyes.

"You had another sister."

Nico's only response was the closing of his eyes and more warm, salty tears flowing down his cheeks. He was grateful Leo wasn't asking anymore questions at the moment.

"Bianca." He choked out, his voice heavy with emotion. Nico surprised himself once more with his openness to someone he barely knew. "She joined the Hunters, and she, Percy, and a couple others went on a quest to save Artemis. I made Percy promise me he would keep her safe. They were at your father's junkyard when she died. She sacrificed herself for the rest of them, gave Percy something to give me. It was a Hades statuette. The only one I didn't have for my game. When he came back and told me, I felt so betrayed. He promised! I kind of freaked out, and raised a bunch of skeleton warriors, who attacked Percy. I hated him. I hated him so much. But eventually I forgave him. But Bianca... She knew me better than anyone else."

Nico heard shuffling to his right and opened his eyes. Leo was standing up, and he offered a hand to help Nico up. Nico took it, his cold hand wrapping around Leo's warm one.

"Come on. I think we both need some chocolate." Nico raised an eyebrow. "What? Chocolate makes every thing better." He had a devilish grin, one that rivaled even Nico's, and he ran off toward the dining room, pulling Nico along the whole way.