"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 !
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0006. | IT WAS FINALLY THE TIME TO BE SELFISH
As much as Vela had been through, and as much as his first instinct was to draw his swords in the face of a threat, he didn't like conflict, least of all with Nico. It was why he had to walk away when they started arguing. He never wanted to fight with him, it was one of the first things he had ever thought about with Nico. He knew upon meeting him that he would never want him to feel anything other than contentment but it seemed that in Vela's efforts to make him content, he had only pushed him further away.
Everything seemed to be going wrong.
His first problem began when he lost his eye and it became horrifically scarred, something that Apollo had tried his best to solve but failed at. Vela had lost his beauty, and with that, his confidence.
He had become quite arrogant before he lost his eye, and although arrogance wasn't a positive trait to have, he liked that could have that confidence in himself. Now it was gone, as was his beauty. Vela was sure no one would ever see him as attractive again. Maybe that was why he and Nico were distancing, because Vela wasn't handsome anymore...
The second problem came from the night in which they watched the stars. Vela was confused honestly. Nico wanted to be with him but also not be with him? Vela didn't truly understand. Either way, he kept his distance, acting only as a friend. It was clearly what Nico wanted. It was all they would ever be - friends.
And the final problem arose from the fact that Vela felt a little bit sad almost all the time. It wasn't always prevalent, but there would be times in the middle of the night when he would feel this overwhelming sadness, a complete and utter heartbreak that made him want to sob so hard he forgot how to breathe. But what was scary about this ever present sadness was that it wasn't a new feeling to him.
This sadness reminded Vela of his time in the sky and it made him feel fearful of returning to that time when he knew everything, but felt nothing. He hated it, he remembered loathing his own existence before Zeus let him fall to earth to die (that went well for him). He never wanted to go back to that time, he just wanted things to be like they were before the war started like that night he taught Nico to sword fight in their safe house. Everything was perfect back then, not what it was now.
Maybe that was the reason why Vela had chosen to return to Venice with his Venus blade. Only now he was without his other half.
Venice was stunning as ever, lit golden by the blazing sun even in fall and made the facades of the buildings glow orange. The air was warm, only a slight chill that felt nice on his bare arms. He had donned his dark red t-shirt in an effort to not stand out like his camp t-shirt made him, and his classic cut denim shorts and sneakers. He still got looks from the Venetians though for some reason.
