Perfect Little Blue Boy (Percy Jackson)

Chapter Fifty Five

Maria

Bianca insisted that she had called it. That Nico was gay. Had a boyfriend and not a girlfriend. And yeah, she was right.

"Okay, yeah." I admitted that she was right. "But I still want to hear him tell us. Even if it's not that he's gay. It's that he has a boyfriend or something."

"And will you freak out on him?" Bianca questioned as if I was homophobic. I pushed being straight on them, yes. Because I didn't want them to be taken away and killed for being gay.

"No," I insisted, "It's the 21st century, Bianca. A lot has changed and it's not like you're kept in a concentration camp for it anymore."

We shut up when we saw Nico come back and he asked about dinner and the stuff that I knew he'd bring up no matter what.

We met up with Josie and headed to the mall. They still had Maurice's, which was amazing. They still had nice stuff.  Some other really nice stores and we both got stuff that doesn't make us look 80 years old.

I was allowed to wear pants.

It was beautiful.

But anyways, we had been at a place called Ragstock. Both boys and girls clothes. But there were these two girls that were shopping together and Bianca pointed them out. They were holding hands earlier. And while we were looking, all three of us, they kissed.

"That's sweet." I remarked, looking at the couple. "At least you're allowed to do that now. If you gay when we moved here... You'd starve on the streets."

"Some parents still throw their kids on the streets." Nico told me. "It's a huge deal now."

"Why though?" I questioned as Bianca went to try some stuff on. "I mean, then you don't have worry as much about your kid getting pregnant and what not. But I don't know. I had a friend in high school who told me she was gay. Had a crush on me. And I uh... Never saw her after that day. Shame, too. I would've gone out with her had she actually asked me."

Nico almost choked on the water he was drinking, not expecting that out of me. Because yes, I am bi. I see nothing wrong with it. My parents never knew. I ended up with Hades as it was. But yeah. It... I've seen a few of each today.

"I'm sorry," Nico apologized. "Mom!"

"What?" I asked my son, hoping he might tell me about his boyfriend. "There's nothing wrong with being bi, honey. You should know that."

"I know," he assured me. "I just didn't expect that coming from you."

And this banter went back and forth for a few minutes. Bianca was taking forever, we had time.

"Nico," I insisted. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

"No!"

"Are you homophobic?"

"No."

I kept on asking shit that I know he would say no to. Keep him on a role with the word no. I had a trick up my sleeve.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" I asked in all seriousness.

"No," he was just as serious.

"Are you sure?"

And he was on the roll of telling me no, so guess what he did.

"No."

And he thought about it.

"Yes," he corrected himself. "I am."

But to be honest about this, I knew before the phonecall. It's hard to hide when you had a rainbow flag on your backpack. Keychain. Have a photo of your boyfriend in your wallet. That's another bad set up to stay hidden.

"Are you?" I repeated.

"Mom, why are you asking about a boyfriend." It started to bug him. "I don't think I've done anything that says—"

"You have a gay pride flag," I pointed out to him. "On your backpack. And according to Bianca, your friends didn't care to let you tell her that you're gay. And in a relationship."

And of course, he sort of freaked out.

It's okay, though. He was calm 30 seconds later.

Nico

I felt betrayed. Not by my family. My friends.

Mom has gone up to pay for the stuff from Ragstock, and I tried to figure it out in my head. But I wasn't sure who'd just say that outright.

"So," Bianca brought it back up. "Why'd you never tell me?"

This time, it was obvious what she was talking about. Me being gay.

"Because," I reasoned with my older sister as I saw another girl run in here. Our older sister, Josie. She found Mom. "When you were alive, I really didn't have interest. And when you were dead, when did I have time to talk to you aside that one time in the Labyrinth when you chewed me out for having a grudge against Percy?"

Bianca shrugged. "I don't know what you guys were up to. What did you do when I was gone?"

I thought back to those dreadful days, not noticing Mom and Josie behind us.

"Almost die," I summed it up pretty accurately. "Um, that's really about it."

"You almost died." Bianca repeated and I nodded my head. "how?"

"Oooh," I thought about it. "A lot of ways."

Either way, we were going around to a few different stores and I felt terrible for Josie. Because as cool as mom was with me being and all of that... Clothing was still her strict domain. I pointed out a pair of shorts I thought Josie would like. They were short, but most of them are. If you can wear it in school, it's no big deal.

Mom saw them and uh...

"I'm not having you wear clothes that your ass is showing." Mom insisted.

"They cover, Mom," I insisted. "I've seen people wear shorts shorter than this, and they're covered."

"I don't care," Mom told the three of us. "You're not wearing anything that short. Not as long as you live under my roof."

She said the same thing about crop tops. And the shorter skirts. And just about anything Bianca and Josie actually wanted to get. Because it included skinny jeans. Which means leggings were out.

They were just proud of their bodies. They'd be covered. Like... I don't know.

But dinner was... Sally and Mom had a few things that they didn't agree on. And the first is that Sally was... She was wearing a romper. Which, to me that was normal. Paul got Sally a romper for her birthday and she likes to wear that with a flannel. It was very modest.

But Mom... Well, I mean I don't think she was too fond of my Misfits shirt. Much less this. Mom demanded Sally tell her what she was wearing.

"It's a romper," Sally told my mother and the three of us shared a look. Knowing this wouldn't end well. "My ex husband got it for me before we split up. Why? Do you like it?"

"No."