Chasing the Dark{Nico Di Angelo}

The Bookworm and Fish

You woke up to your sister Annabeth jumping on your bed.

"What...do you want?"you asked as your head bounced up and down everytime she jumped.

"Come to the library with me."she said.

You just rolled your eyes,"Go by yourself,Book Worm"you pushed her off your bed with your foot.

Sadly unlike you,Annabeth has pretty good reflexes so as she fell she grabbed your leg and pulled you off the bed aswell.

Quickly she stood up,laughing,"Look you're already up so you have no reason not to go with me."she walked towards the door,"Be ready in ten minutes."

You huffed and sat up.Glancing at your mirror you saw the horror that was your reflection.You h/c hair was a mess that looked like it had a small birds nest living in it and your baggy shirt and shorts were horobly wrinkled.

After getting up,getting dressed,and dealing with that thing you called hair,you headed downstairs to see your mom and Annabeth eating breakfast.You dad walked past you and patted your back.

"Finally awake there Sleeping Beauty?"he teased and you laughed.

"Against my will Im driving Ann to the library."you said,grabbing a waffle off of your mom's plate and eating it.She gave you a playful glare and then Annabeth dragged you out of the house.

Walking to your car you saw Nico taking the trash out.You waved towards him and said hello but he neither saw nor heard you and just walked back inside.

***

This is torture.Absolute,pure torture.Annabeth was flipping through some large Greek Mythology encyclopedia and you were playing with an old pencil.

You liked reading just as much as the next person but this was an educational library.So it had nothing but donated school books,encyclopedias,and manuels.Things like that.

So while Annabeth had her face buried in the book,you decided to text Percy.

'Hey Potty,whats up'

About six minutes later he replied.

'Hi,Y/n.Im getting a smoothie.Wanna join me?'

'Cant,stuck in the library with Annabeth.'

'Invite her too'he texted back faster.

'Dont look desperate Fish Boy.'

You looked up at your sister and pulled her book from her hands.

"Hey,I was reading that"she pouted.

"No really?I thought you were eating it."you commented sarcastically,"Percy wants us to meet him for smoothies."

With that her face got the slightest bit pinker and she nodded,standing up,"Okay lets go then."

You smirked to yourself and followed her out to the car.

***

You were sitting on the sidewalk outside the smoothie shop,beside Annabeth and Percy.You stayed quiet listening to the two of them talk about how they were going to the same college and whatever else.

Your mind wandered back to when you saw Nico early.He looked only a slight bit different since he was adopted.His eyes and hair seemed darker,or maybe just showed more since they so closely matched all the dark colors he wore.His faced looked so bored and rarely do you remember seeing him without headphones in.

"What do you think Y/n?"

You snapped out of your thoughts and turned towards Percy's voice.

"Uh...sorry what?"you asked.

"We were talking about going camping to start off the summer.Wanna come?"He asked.

You nodded,"Sure.Just us three?"

"Well...no.Us and Nico.Mom said since this is our last summer that we'll all for sure be together,Nico should come too"he bit his lip,"She thinks he should use this last summer to make some friends,instead of staying in his room all day."

You just stared at Percy,confused.

"Um...okay."Annabeth said slowly,her face showing her equal confusion,"Thats cool.Um more the merrier right?"

"Thats what mom said when she found out I had a twin."you joked and Annabeth poked you in the side.

Percy smiled,"Okay.Thanks guys."

Suddendly Percy's phone started playing,'Set Fire to the Rain' by Adele.You and Annabeth both laughed to each other as he answered.

"Whats up,McShizzle.Just getting smoothies with the Twins.I didnt invite you is why no one told you.Yes they agreed to go camping.No you cant come."he continued.

You stood up and took the phone from Percy,"Hey Leo"

Percy gave you an annoyed look,knowing exactly what you were about to do.

"Hey Y/n,how's my sexy lady doing?"he said and you laughed.

You were good friends with Leo but he was always the one to flirt with you.It didnt bother you because you both knew the two of you would never be together; that didnt stop him from doing it though.

"She's doing fine.Unlike smoothies which you werent invited to,I am inviting you to come camping."You looked at Annabeth and Percy,"More the merrier,right?"

You heard Leo chuckle,"Thanks,Gorgeous.Well tell Percy he owes me a smoothie and I'll talk to you later."

"Bye Leo."You hung up and handed Percy his phone.,"You owe him a smoothie he said."

"You just do whatever you want, dont you?"Percy asked and shook his head,but you could see his small smile.

***

You let Percy take Annabeth home because you still had one other place you wanted to go( also because of you  trying to get them together.)

You pulled into the mall's parking lot and got out.You were looking for a certain store when you passed by the arcade.Looking at it made you realize how long its been since you've actually played there.It was alot of fun as a kid but the older you got,the busier your got.,leaving little time for anything else but school.

You were about to walk away when you saw a familiar My Chemical Romance hoodie.

Nico.

He was walking out of the arcade towards the center of the mall,playing his phone.You should say 'hi',right?Its the friendly thing to do when you see someone you know...well know of.Plus you'll be camping together for a week,so might as well break the ice now.

You walked up towards him and tapped his shoulder,making him flinch.He turned around and looked at you,pulling out his right headphone and arching a brow.

You've never been this close to him before and just remembered something pretty important : he has basically no idea who you are.