"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.
0009. | THE WORST DAY OF A SOULMATE'S LIFE
Nico was quick to realise he had self destructive tendencies.
At first, he was adamant to deny his feelings for Vela. He refused to even acknowledge that he might've once thought of Vela as more than a friend. That in the year they had spent together, Nico had come to appreciate the god's presence more than his own self.
Nico knew he shouldn't think of boys in the same way that he did Vela; he knew he shouldn't have thought Vela was beautiful, or courageous, or absolutely drop-dead perfect. Even his scarred face and ribs looked to Nico as if he had been sculpted by the gods to be a beautiful masterpiece made for Nico to admire.
And just when Nico was ready to bury his feelings down deep and never mention them ever to anyone, Vela tells him that they were bonded by their souls. But according to the god, that wasn't enough to lay on him. Vela just had to tell him that they could be friends. That awful word that would once have meant to much to him but was now venomous.
For such a long while, Nico had craved friendship, a connection with anyone who wouldn't abandon him like everyone else had. And he thought he had found that in Vela - a person who wouldn't leave him. A person who would spend a year with him, protecting him, making him laugh, bickering with him, challenging him, completing him.
But much like a child of Hades, Nico was determined to hold a grudge against Vela. He didn't want Vela to protect him, or make him laugh, or bicker with him, or challenge him, or complete him. Nico could look after himself and he was desperate to prove that.
And it would have been easy to him. It would have been easy to let himself be fuelled by hate and resentment. To despise Vela for lying to him and leaving him, but now... now he was different. Being around Vela had changed him, unfortunately for the better. Nico couldn't be quite as bitter anymore, especially not at him. He wanted Vela. He wanted him, scars and all. He wanted Vela to tell him every awful thing he'd ever done and let him want him anyway.
Because something about Vela wasn't quite so sweet as one may think. Vela could be selfless and caring and merciful - and he was definitely all of those things - but Vela could also end a life in seconds. He wasn't just a sweet sonnet or a citrus caress, he could also be fierce and terrifying; a force to be reckoned with to anything that dared to threaten them.
And because of that, Nico owed it to him to bury his grudge. He couldn't keep it anyway. He cared about Vela too much to be resentful about him. He owed it to Vela to be good without him.
