"The moment I met you,
I held my breath.
And you've been taking
it away ever since,
Nico di Angelo."
[ NICO DI ANGELO x MALE OC ]
[ PERCY JACKSON SERIES ]
[ HEROES OF OLYMPUS SERIES ]
cover by @humaneity !
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
0029. | THE TIME TO READ THE LETTER
Vela was feeling a little bit paranoid. There was no reason for such a feeling, in all honesty, life had been going quite well for him. But he supposed that was where the paranoia came from—he didn't want to lose any moment of this greatness he had worked so hard to earn. Sure, he got a death threat from a few werewolf kings and giants (but who doesn't—right?), and sure, maybe he still had the impending dread of a rising protogenos who had promised revenge against him for not joining her side...
Yeah, actually it didn't sound too great of a situation to be in, but to Vela, it all paled in comparison to this new secret he had. Nothing could quite ever seem so awful whilst Vela had the knowledge that Nico di Angelo was his.
That secret filled Vela with a feeling of such unbridled elation that he was sure he was purely encapsulated with the blessing of Eutychia, the goddess of happiness. Nothing could compare to that one little secret, not one thing in the world. Apollo could shine the sun so brightly the world burned; Demeter could grow every flower into an exquisite bouquet of peonies and poppies; Athena could enlighten him to all the wisdom in the history of humanity, open his eyes to philosophy and cosmic beauty of knowledge; but nothing, none of it, no divine power, no demonic deception, nothing could compare to the boy he considered himself blessed to know as his better half.
Even then, sat around the dining table at the Jackson-Blofis residence for Christmas Day, nothing could knock Vela's mood, not even that wrestling inkling of paranoia. He was well fed with Sally's nut roast she had made last minute upon remembering Vela was a vegetarian, and well entertained too as Paul and Annabeth had taken it upon themselves to catch Nico up on some history ('You mean you and I spent a year on the run together, Vel, and in all those times I had to listen to you talk about stupid constellation types, you never told me about the end of Stalinist Communism?'—'In my defence, it does seem pretty obvious informatio—OW!'). Apparently the poor boy was unaware of the fall of the Soviet Union during his time hidden in a casino.
Sally sat at the head of the table, opposite an empty chair at the other end. Sally had insisted it was for Tyson if he changed his mind last minute to come to dinner (he was spending the holiday in Poseidon's kingdom with his father and Triton), but they all knew the truth for who she had set out flatware and a placemat for. No one could mistake the hopeful glances she would spare every so often to the front door.
On either side of her were Paul and Annabeth, Vela next to Annabeth, Nico with Paul. Vela didn't like not sitting next to Nico but he suffered through it with Nico's foot locked against his under the table where no one could see (though they all suspected). Nico's broken nose was healing well after a few days of ambrosia and nectar dosages partnered with the occasional siphoning of Vela's godly strength. The black bruise had turned purple and blue to green to now a yellow-ish brown that was nearly gone, and covered only with a small steri-strip no wider than Vela's fingernail.
