[2] 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐈𝐓 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐘 , p. jackson , j. grace

xii. the power of- wait, why is it snowing?

CHAPTER TWELVE ───────────
✧₊˚｡({ THE POWER OF- WAIT, WHY IS IT SNOWING?  })

"  more than a woman     BEE GEES  "

{ JASON }
JULY 12TH,  2010
────────────

"NICO, IT'S OKAY. I GET IT."

"No, you don't. There's no way you can understand."

"I don't have friends! I left Camp Half-Blood because I don't belong! I'll never belong!"

"Leave him alone, Cupid. This isn't . . ."

"I━I wasn't in love with Annabeth."

"I had a crush on Percy. That's the truth. That's the big secret. Happy now?"

No, Jason isn't happy now. In fact, he might just be incredibly angry at the god of love. Nope. Not might. He is. Cupid had no right. Who cares if he's the god of love? Seriously. He'd always liked Venus better anyway. And it isn't fair. It isn't fair that Nico feels this way. The need to be ashamed of who he is. It must've been so hard to grow up in the forties only to emerge in the twenty-first century and realize he was the one of the things people were shamed of being the most.

Jason feels a pang of guilt at his previous feelings toward the boy. He chooses to be closed off because he's scared and ashamed and uncomfortable of himself. He doesn't like who he is and assumes others will think the same. Nico . . . He's like no one Jason has ever met and just now he's decided that that's a good thing.

Nico lets out a weighted breath, his hand trembling against the hilt of his Stygian sword. He refuses to meet Jason's gaze. He stares at the scepter of Diocletian lying tauntingly on the ground, laughing at his expense and what he'd had to sacrifice to get it. Slowly, he kneels on the ground, picking it up with his free hand. He doesn't look away from the dark-globe-topped scepter when he finally begins to talk. "If the others found out━"

Jason shakes his head quickly. "If the others found out, you'd have six more people to back you up and defend you in whatever way they can."

He's unsure of how to deal with this exact situation. Yes, he's had people tell him outright━Roma and Luis. But with them, they'd just said it and moved on like it was nothing. And he guesses it's not something that important to concern him anyway. Just another thing to add to their list of attributes that make them who they are. That's that. But Jason could never relate and it made him feel as though he could never fully understand what they were going through.